A Jefferson County District Court judge on Tuesday sentenced former Mountain View town councilman Brent Metz to work release and probation for shooting a 17-year-old boy in the face in 2024.
Judge Russell Klein sentenced Metz to 3 months of work release and 4 years probation after hearing emotional statements from the mothers of the two teen victims and from Metz, along with arguments from the prosecution and defense.
Klein told the courtroom that while the prison sentence requested by the prosecution was not appropriate because of Metz’s lack of criminal history, Metz’s attorneys proposal of 1 year of probation “doesn’t really properly address the gravity of what took place in this case.”
“A child being shot in the face is a trauma that can never be taken away from them, and that is a very serious offense,” Klein said.
Jack Howard was 17 years old when he and 15-year-old Luke Brookhouser stumbled upon Metz’s property near Conifer while looking for a place to take homecoming photos in September 2024.
The pair hopped the fence, knocked on a barn door and were sitting in their car writing a note to ask permission to return to take photos when Metz pulled up behind them and got out of his truck.
Metz’s attorneys, David Jones and Christopher Decker of the Law Offices of Decker and Jones, have argued that Metz’s gun went off unintentionally while he was getting out of his vehicle, while Deputy District Attorney Christopher Johnson argued Metz fired the gun.
Howard was shot in the face, and the fragmented bullet broke his nose and hit his eye, lip, tooth and arm, according to a civil lawsuit.
A Jefferson County jury in June convicted Metz of third-degree assault and illegal discharge of a firearm in the shooting and acquitted him of two counts of felony menacing.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
