Powless on supervised release for shooting

A Keshena woman was placed on supervised release Thursday for one year and sentenced to time already served for interfering with an investigation of a shooting in which she was accidentally shot by her son while he was shooting at another man.

According to her plea agreement filed in federal court, Mary L. Powless, 42, was outside a residence on March 13 in Middle Village when her son, Menom L. Powless-Brown, 19, struck another man on the head with a 9 mm handgun and discharged the weapon several times.

The bullet struck Powless on the left side of her face, injuring her. At the time, Powless told her son that “you shot me.”

Powless-Brown fired the handgun several times also hitting a man, identified in court records only as John Doe, causing him significant injures.

Powless attempted to conceal her wound and did not report the assault or her injury by refusing medical attention for her gunshot wound.

Powless is a nurse and treated her own wound. She subsequently admitted that this delayed federal and tribal agents who were trying to identify the victims and witnesses to the shooting incident.

Both mother and son were charged in April with assault with a deadly weapon. Powless-Brown also was charged with assault with intent to murder and discharging a fireman during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Powless was in custody from approximately April 15 to July 13, according to court records.

In exchange for her guilty plea to interfering with an investigation, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the more serious assault charges. Distract Judge William Griesbach adopted the recommendation of Powless attorney, Lee Schuchart, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Maier that Powless should be sentenced to time served and placed on one year’s supervised release.

She faced maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Powless-Brown pleaded guilty on Sept. 10 to assault with intent to murder.

His crime stemmed from an ongoing dispute he had with Doe, who had taken a sexual interest in an acquaintance of Powless-Brown’s, identified in the complaint by the initials, A.M.

Verbal disputes on social media escalated into threats from Doe toward A.M. and Powless-Brown as late as Feb. 24. Less than a week before the March 13 shooting, Doe was seen at a mutual friend’s home, armed with a firearm, looking for A.M. and Powless-Brown to settle the dispute.

According to Powless-Brown’s plea agreement, he and A.M., planned to attend a birthday party in Middle Village on March 13. A.M. was waiting in a car outside Powless-Brown’s residence when A.M. saw Doe slowly drive by brandishing a weapon that A.M. believed to be a .30-.06 caliber rifle.

A.M. then went inside, got Powless-Brown, and they drove toward Middle Village.

Doe and A.M. passed each other while traveling on state Highway 47 before Doe and his crew of three individuals made a U-turn and headed toward Doe’s vehicle on the highway.

However, A.M. turned off the highway onto a road leading toward Middle Village.

When A.M. and Powless-Brown neared the birthday party, Doe passed A.M. and brake-checked him a few times.

Both vehicles arrived at the party on Hickory Street at the same time. Doe and Powless-Brown exited their cars, and witnesses said that Powless-Brown either punched Doe or attempted to strike him in the head with a 9 mm pistol.

Powless-Brown claimed that Doe was armed with a pistol and after Powless-Brown punched Doe, Doe pulled a pistol from his pocket, aimed it at Powless-Brown and fired it but missed Powless-Brown.

No witness said that they saw Doe with a gun.

Powless-Brown drew his pistol and Doe fled toward the car in which he arrived. Powless-Brown pursued and fired at Doe, striking him in the fifth lumbar vertebrae. Neurosurgeons declined to remove the bullet fragment due to its proximity to the spinal cord.

Powless-Brown conceded that it was likely that a jury would reject his claim of self-defense if the case would have gone to trial.

He faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years’ supervised release at his Dec. 13 sentencing before Griesbach.

Powless-Brown remains in custody.