Cedar Rapids man to serve 5 years in prison for shooting another man in the leg

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids man convicted of shooting a man in the leg outside Jim's Foods in March was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday.

Dontay L. Hill, 25, originally charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty in July in Linn County District Court to a lesser charge of willful assault causing bodily injury. Hill admitted to shooting Tyrone Sherman, 24, on March 4.

Police responded to the parking lot of Jim's Foods, 812 Sixth St. SW, after hearing gunshots.

Hill fired a gun twice at Sherman, hitting him once in the leg, Assistant Linn County Attorney Nic Scott said after the plea hearing. The men knew each other, but Scott said neither was 'forthcoming” about how or why the shooting occurred.

Senior Judge Thomas Koehler of the 6th Judicial District sentenced Hill to five years in prison.

Hill also admitted during the sentencing to violating the terms of his probation in two convictions for drug charges, in which he received two five-year suspended sentences.

Koehler ran those concurrently to the assault sentence for a total of five years.

Scott said after the hearing that Sherman refused to testify at trial. Scott said he had no choice but to offer a plea agreement because the victim wouldn't cooperate.

According to police reports, Sherman showed up at St. Luke's Hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg the night of March 4. He identified Hill as the shooter. Surveillance video from the adjacent Breakfast House corroborated Sherman's version of events.

Hill was found at Mercy Medical Center several hours after the shooting with a gunshot wound to his hand. He gave different versions of what happened with 'several inconsistencies,” the criminal complaint said.

Scott said he couldn't provide further details of what happened between them since neither would cooperate.