By ANDREA JOHNSON

Staff Writer

ajohnson@minotdailynews.com

Leticia Maria Sitzer, 41, Minot, will serve four days in jail for shooting through her parked vehicle toward a home in Surrey occupied by two adults and two children on Jan. 29 because she was angry with one of the residents.

No one in the house was injured and her lawyer, Kasey McGough, said at a sentencing hearing on Thursday that a bullet casing landed on the ground to the rear of the 1999 Dodge Durango SUV, which had been parked in the driveway of the home.

However, Sitzer admitted that she knew four people were in the house when she fired the handgun.

Under the terms of a plea deal, Judge Richard Hagar sentenced Sitzer on Thursday to 360 days in the Ward County Jail, all suspended but the four days she already served, and two years of supervised probation.

He also ordered her to have no contact with the victims and to surrender all firearms she owns to law enforcement.

She must also pay $300 in counseling bills for one of the victims and $1,100 in court costs.

Sitzer pleaded guilty to a Class C felony reckless endangerment-extreme indifference charge. The offense will be deemed a Class A misdemeanor if she successfully completes probation. Two other charges of Class B misdemeanor criminal mischief and Class B misdemeanor discharge of a firearm within the city limits were dismissed under the terms of a plea deal.

The same plea deal had earlier been put before Judge Doug Mattson, but Mattson refused to accept the plea deal on July 9.

On Thursday, Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney Christopher Nelson told Hagar that the victims had been informed of the details of the proposed plea deal but they had only been notified by email on Thursday morning that the court hearing was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Nelson said he was concerned that didn’t give them enough time to notify the court that they wanted to address the court at the hearing, if that was the case. Under the state’s Marsy’s Law, victims have a right to be notified of court hearings and to speak at hearings if they exercise the right. Judge Hagar told Nelson that the victims had been notified and there were no time requirements noted in Marsy’s Law. Hagar said he would go ahead with the sentencing hearing on Thursday.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, a witness saw Sitzer standing near her vehicle with a handgun and fire the gun at the 1999 red Dodge Durango SUV, then get into her vehicle and leave. One of the residents of the house had video footage showing the incident.

The rear window on the Dodge Durango had been shattered, as had the window on the driver’s side of the SUV. There was a bullet hole in the trunk. Officers found a spent 9 mm shell casing about 25 feet to the rear of the vehicle.

Police spoke with Sitzer, who admitted she discharged the handgun, broke out the vehicle’s windows with the handgun, then placed the handgun inside the alleged victim’s vehicle.

Police recovered Sitzer’s 9mm handgun from the passenger seat floor of the victim vehicle. The handgun had a jammed live 9mm shell in the chamber.