KINGMAN, Ariz. – Attorneys and the judge shouted their way through an Aug. 31 change of plea hearing for a hearing challenged defendant who was shot by a Mohave County Sheriff’s deputy outside his home in Meadview on May 11.
Scott Hulley, 69, was released from custody after the hearing, and he will be placed on probation for five years.
It was revealed that the near-deaf man’s hearing impairment played a role in the shooting incident. Deputy county attorney James Schoppmann said deputies arrived at Hulley’s residence to tell him he had been trespassed from a neighbor’s property following a dispute involving a dog.
Schoppmann told Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle that Hulley could not hear the deputy commands and was confused in the dark when he emerged from his residence and fired a shotgun round into the air. He was wounded in the groin when a deputy returned fire.
Hulley pleaded guilty to two counts reduced to attempted aggravated assault.
