GOLDEN, Colo. (CN) - In opening arguments Wednesday, prosecutors asked a jury to convict a man of assault and menacing after shooting a teenager scouting for homecoming photos on his property in Conifer, Colorado.
"This is the extension of their intrusion: they walk down the driveway and they knock on a door," said Christopher Johnson, deputy district attorney for the First Judicial District Attorney's Office. "They picked the wrong house and they picked the wrong people."
Jack Howard, who was 17 at time, was driving around after school with a friend looking for the perfect place to take homecoming photos on Sept 10, 2024, when the teens spotted a lake right off the road. They pulled over and walked around the property looking for the homeowner to ask permission to come back, stopping along the way to pet the barn kittens.
While the teens returned to their car to write a note, a woman who was home reported the trespassers to 911 and her husband, 38-year-old Brent Metz. At the time of the incident, Metz sat on the town council for Mountain View.
According to prosecutors, Metz ignored advice from dispatch to let law enforcement make first contact, and instead pounced on the teens with his gun drawn.
"He brings a gun, a 9mm handgun that has a live round in the chamber ready to go," Johnson said. "As soon as Jack opens the door, trying to figure out what is going on, Mr. Metz fires a single shot right into the windshield right to where the driver's head would be."
The bullet hit Howard in the nose, shattering into three pieces that had to be surgically removed. Howard survived.
Prosecutors charged Metz with felony assault, illegal discharge of a firearm and two counts of menacing.
Metz's defense attorney, Christopher Decker, admitted his client held the gun that shot the teen, but told the jury it was an accident. While moving his Sig Sauer P320 from his truck holster to his hip holster, Metz maintains he lost his footing and the gun that has been the subject of safety recalls and lawsuits fired without him touching the trigger.
"This accidental discharge was not a result of recklessness; he was being as careful as he ever had been, and the gun went off anyway," said Decker who practices with Decker & Jones in Denver.
Decker described his client as a responsible gunowner, who first obtained a concealed carry permit when he was 19 years old, and practiced firearm safety from the Eagle Scouts to the Air Force. If Metz intended to shoot the teenager, Decker said, the teen would be dead.
"Everyone in this courtroom will agree they didn't deserve to be shot at, and everyone will be happy and thankful Jack Howard is alive," Decker said.
First Judicial District Judge Russell Klein, appointed by Jared Polis, sat the jury last Friday. The trial is scheduled to run through this Friday at the Jefferson County Combined Court in Golden, Colorado.
Source: Courthouse News Service
