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Allentown man gets 17 to 37 years in prison
He tried to shoot fugitive recovery agent, punched K-9 dog in the head.
By Debbie Garlicki Of The Morning Call An Allentown man who tried to shoot a fugitive recovery agent, ran from police and punched a K-9 dog was sentenced Wednesday to 17 to 37 years in state prison.
Jeremiah Spears, 27, had pointed a 9 mm handgun at agent Faicel Belkhir and pulled the trigger three times. The gun didn't fire.
A Lehigh County jury convicted Spears in August of attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault and other charges.
''At the conclusion of the trial, when I stood up, I felt as if I needed to catch my breath,'' Belkhir wrote in a letter to Judge Kelly L. Banach, who sentenced Spears.
The trial, Belkhir reflected, could have been a murder trial if the gun had worked.
Spears, formerly of 313 S. Bradford St., ran after a struggle with Belkhir and fugitive recovery agent Scott Rodgers on Feb. 7, 2005.
Police were summoned and found Spears on the porch of an Allentown home. Spears ran from police and punched a K-9 dog in the head. The dog caught him and used its teeth to hold one of his legs.
''I ain't afraid of no…dog,'' Spears had said.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Robert Rosner commented that Spears doesn't appear to be afraid of anything or anyone. ''He is out of control,'' the prosecutor said.
Spears has a long history of juvenile crimes, some of them violent, and was put on probation and sent to youth forestry camps. He hit a victim on the head with a bottle and threatened to blow up a teacher's aide's house and gun down her family, Rosner said.
Spears spent time in state prison as an adult and violated his parole, Rosner said. He resisted arrest, fought with police and grabbed an officer's nightstick. While Spears was in jail in the latest case, he had six misconducts. He also threatened to hurt another inmate.
''This defendant is the epitome of the armed drug-dealing thug we have in Lehigh County,'' Rosner said.
He appealed to the judge, ''You have to put an end to this with this defendant.''
Spears acknowledged that he had brushes with the law when he was a juvenile and said he was young and ''didn't know no better.''
He maintained that he didn't try to fire the gun and that he was convicted for something he didn't do.
His mother, two sisters and a brother testified that Spears was good to his family and was a father figure to his sisters.
Defense lawyer Albert Nelthropp said Spears might have a learning disability but obtained his high school equivalency diploma and can become somebody in the future. He asked for a sentence that will give Spears a chance at rehabilitation.
Banach said she would have reached the same verdict that the jury did. ''The evidence was not only sufficient but was overwhelming,'' she said.
The judge said Spears' behavior shows arrogance, lawlessness and a disregard for the safety of others. People like Spears view the criminal justice system as ''a big joke,'' she added. Their street activities glorify violence, and their lives revolve around fast money, drugs and guns, Banach said.
Spears, she said, doesn't want to play by society's rules. She described Spears' actions toward the police dog as the ''icing on the cake.''
''It's like in whatever way you can thumb your nose at the system, you did it,'' Banach said.
In 2003, Spears was charged with firearms and drug offenses and terroristic threats after police responded to a call from one of Spears' sisters that Spears was beating her dog. When Spears didn't appear for trial in that case and skipped bail, a bench warrant had been issued.
The fugitive recovery agents were trying to apprehend Spears when the latest incident occurred.
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