‘She wouldn’t hurt a fly’ husband tells judge who sentenced wife for accidental shooting

Angela Kevwtich, right, with her attorney Erin Fisher.

By Allison Scarbrough. OCP Editor.

HART — The 43-year-old Rothbury woman who said she accidentally shot her husband in the arm last September received no additional jail time during her sentencing Wednesday, Feb. 11, in 27th Circuit Court.

Her husband appeared in court, supporting his wife Angela Ann Kevwitch. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he told Judge Anthony Monton. “It was a complete accident.”

Kevwitch, who is a licensed practical nurse, was initially facing a felonious assault charge. She pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor of reckless discharge of a firearm. Her attorney, Erin Fisher, submitted a psychological exam to the court. “The court would make the finding that she is competent to stand trial,” Monton said.

Kevwitch was on a combination of prescription drugs at the time of the shooting “that led to a paranoid state, and she thought people were in her home,” Fisher said. They were drugs that her client is not familiar with, she stated.

“She shot her husband through a door and struck him in the arm with a .38 caliber bullet,” Oceana County Undersheriff Tim Priese said previously. “He had left the house in the early morning hours, and she did not know this. He returned and tried to enter the house and was shot through the entry door.”

The husband drove himself to Mercy Health Lakeshore Campus in Shelby, Priese said, and hospital officials contacted the sheriff’s department.

“It is true that you had control of a firearm?” Monton asked Kevwitch. “Yes,” she answered. “I was holding it, and it discharged. I was scared. This was a complete accident.”

“I truly believe this was a complete accident, and you won’t be seeing Angela again,” Fisher told the judge.

“We’re trying to help her not lose her (nurse’s) license,” Prosecutor Joe Bizon said of reducing the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. “A prescription drug interaction caused an altered state.”

The soft-spoken Kevwitch said she recently had neck surgery and has not been able to work for a period of time.

Monton sentenced Kevwitch to 90 days discretionary jail; four days in jail imposed and credit for four days served; and $400 in fines and costs.