Parker sentenced for 2020 shooting in Three Rivers

Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman sentenced Lee Parker, Jr., 22, of Three Rivers for a minimum of 17 years and a maximum of 60 years in prison on Friday, August 6 in St. Joseph County Circuit Court. A jury found Paker guilty in June for the 2020 shooting of 17-year-old Grace Hussey.. Hussey, now 18, was shot in the head near River Trail Apartments in the early morning hours of April 9, 2020. (Alek Haak-Frost|Watershed Voice)

Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman sentenced Lee Parker, Jr., 22, of Three Rivers on Friday, August 6 in the shooting of Grace Hussey, who was shot in the head near River Trail Apartments in Three Rivers on April 9, 2020.

Parker was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years and six months and a maximum of 60 years for one count of assault with intent to murder, and two years for one count of felony firearm, with both sentences running consecutively. The 22-year-old was also credited with 484 days served, and assessed $326 in court fees.

On June 26, a jury returned guilty verdicts on the aforementioned charges after 90 minutes of deliberation. Jurors heard testimony from 10 witnesses over the course of four days between Tuesday, June 22 when they were seated, and Tuesday, June 29, when they rendered their verdict.

According to testimony during the trial, officers from the Three Rivers Police Department were dispatched to the 500 block of Thomas St. in Three Rivers at approximately 12:22 a.m. and 1:26 a.m. on April 9, 2020 for a reported shooting. Sgt. Karl Huhnke and Officer Jeremiah Wolters, both of whom testified, were first on the scene. Wolters said he found Hussey, who was just 17 at the time, lying in grass just beyond and in between a pair of carports, a few feet down an embankment behind a bike rack. 

Body cam footage featuring a conversation between Wolters and Hussey the night of the incident shows Hussey telling the officer she believes she was shot in the head, and when Wolters asked who shot her Hussey alleged “Lee Parker” did. Wolters asked why, and Hussey said she believed she was shot because she had told Parker she might be pregnant with his child.

Photos of Hussey’s head were also presented at trial to show jurors the “horseshoe shaped laceration” and puncture wound she sustained in the shooting. Huhnke testified the puncture wound on Hussey’s head was likely caused by a “smaller caliber weapon” fired at close proximity to the victim’s head. Dr. Sarah Charters, a trauma surgeon who treated Hussey, said a CT scan revealed Hussey had bullet fragments in her skull which caused paralysis in both of Hussey’s legs, and weakness in her left arm. Hussey survived the shooting but went on to spend five days in the intensive care unit, and underwent months of physical therapy treatment.

Alek Haak-Frost is executive editor of Watershed Voice.