Man pleads guilty in drug deal shooting

A former nightclub manager from Seattle pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting a Spokane man in the buttocks to retrieve the $300 he previously gave the victim to purchase drugs in a deal that turned into a chase in Spokane Valley.

Terrance R. Jones, 26, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, and Superior Court Judge Annette Plese sentenced him to just over four years in prison.

Jones pleaded guilty to shooting John R. Gardner during a drug deal that went bad Feb. 21 when Gardner tried to flee with the $300 that Jones gave him to purchase OxyContin in a parking lot near Toys R Us in Spokane Valley.

Gardner jumped in a car driven by Mary Spencer, who then fled northbound on Sullivan Road before blowing a tire on a median. Gardner jumped out of the vehicle and Jones began chasing him on foot, firing shots with a 9 mm-caliber pistol. One round struck Gardner in the left buttock, and the bullet passed through his genitals.

“Obviously this could have been worse,” Plese told Jones.

Gardner, 18, also appeared in court Wednesday in a case unrelated to the Jones shooting. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault for an incident in January 2012.

In that case, Gardner was at a party in Spokane Valley when a fight broke out and two men were assaulted with a hammer. Gardner was one of three suspects identified.

Plese sentenced him Wednesday to 13 months in prison.

Defense attorney Kevin Griffin said the scrum was a mutual fight and that his client, who was 17 at the time, had a decent argument for self-defense.

Gardner was out of jail on bond when he set up the drug deal in which he got shot by Jones. As part of the plea, Gardner will plead guilty later this week to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, but he’s expected to be sentenced to time already served.

“I’m just ready to go do my time and get my head together and be there for my family,” said Gardner, who has two children.