‘I take full responsibility.’ Lexington man sentenced to 15 years for fatal shooting
A Lexington man charged with murder was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday after accepting a plea deal for manslaughter.
David Trent, 44, had pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to a reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Adan Perez Mejia, 25, in a shooting on Aug. 17, 2017.
“I take full responsibility,” Trent said from the Lexington-Fayette County Detention Center during his virtual court appearance Friday. “I’m ready to get this behind me and start a new life.”
Mejia was shot in the face about 5:30 a.m. on West Loudon Avenue and taken away from the scene by a friend, according to police. There was a “significant amount of tissue and blood on the scene,” Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said at the time. Mejia was later found in a vehicle on Wickland Drive.
A warrant was put out for Trent’s arrest shortly after the shooting, police said, but they didn’t track him down until the next week when they found out he was in the Costigan Drive area. He tried to evade arrest on a motorcycle, but hit a police vehicle and was taken into custody, police said. Neither he nor any officers were injured during the incident.
Trent was originally charged with murder, evidence tampering, being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a persistent felony offender, according to court records. But his plea deal reduced all of those charges.
In addition to the less severe second-degree manslaughter charge, the tampering and firearm possession charges were dismissed, and the persistent felony offender charge was amended down to second-degree persistent felony offender.
Trent apologized for Mejia’s death in court Friday, but he and his attorneys said he was shot at during the altercation with Mejia. Shannon Brooks-English, one of Trent’s attorneys, said she and Trent seriously considered taking the case to trial.
“We always thought there was a viable self-defense case here,” Brooks-English said.
She added that she felt the amended down charge was proof that the case involved self-defense. Trent cared about people, but “sort of ended up in risky business,” she said.
Trent has previously been convicted of theft, identity theft and fraud.
The commonwealth’s attorney recommended 10 years in prison on the manslaughter charge plus an extra five to address the persistent felony offender charge. Judge Kimberly Bunnell followed the recommendation.
“I don’t have a whole lot of choices,” Bunnell said.
In addition to 15 years of prison time, Trent was also ordered to pay $4,800 restitution for Mejia’s funeral expenses. He’ll have to pay that out at $100 per month, Bunnell said.