Lawyer who fired shots into office employee's condo is sentenced to prison
A Salt Lake City judge rejected a prosecutor’s recommendation of probation and sentenced a lawyer on Monday to a year in prison for firing four shots into the condo of an employee.
Prosecutors had recommended probation for the lawyer, Harold Stone III, as part of a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News reported. Stone appeared stunned while his family members had to be escorted from the courtroom after they erupted in shouts and wails, according to the stories.
The Salt Lake Tribune identified the victim as a paralegal in Stone’s office in Midvale, while the Deseret News said she was a secretary. Stone told the judge he had an affair with the woman.
Stone told the judge he knew that no one was home when he fired the gun, but the victim said she was terrified of Stone and that he needed time behind bars. Stone had been accused of stalking the woman; prosecutors dropped charges of stalking and obstructing justice as part of the plea bargain.
Stone argued against a prison sentence, according to the Deseret News account. “Any jail time is going to collapse my practice, devastate my home, everything. Again, it’s just me and my daughter, your honor,” he said. “I’m a single dad, that’s it, there’s no one else.”
