HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The hearing for a 26-year-old Hutchinson man charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal discharge of a firearm at or in an occupied dwelling, possession of stolen property and misdemeanor possession of marijuana is in recess.
Christopher A. Vanwye is accused of threatening his mothers fiancee during an altercation back on December 15, 2014. He’s alleged to have put the gun the Delbert East head while threatening him. East testified that Vanwye wasn’t himself that night and was threatening suicide. He tried to down play the incident, but Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell persisted in getting him to tell the court what he told police about the incident occurred that night. East finally admitted that Vanwye threatened him and told him to leave.
The suspects mother told the court that her son was suicidal and that she had never seen him that way. Maria Vanwye testified that her son put the gun to his head and she pushed the chair he was in and the gun went off, missing her son, but going through a wall, this at a home in the 800 block of West 14th.
A neighbor told the court that the bullet went through a screen, storm window and a window in her home and lodged into a wall of her home, located across the alley from the home on West 14th.
The state also alleges that the weapon the Astra 357 revolver was stolen from another individual and that at the very least, VanWye was in possession of stolen property. At the time of his arrest, he reportedly was in possession of marijuana.
Christopher M. Tenbraak testified about his gun being taken from his unlocked car back on October 17, 2011. He says he didn’t realize the gun had been located until he read an earlier story about this case on Hutchpost.com. He says the burglar or burglars had also tried to steal his car, but were unsuccessful.
The state had trouble locating an officer to testify in the case, so Judge Joe McCarville agreed to recess the hearing until June 25.
He remains jailed on a $15,000 bond.