Trust game with a gun

By JODI HAUSEN Chronicle Staff Writer

A Belgrade man who shot his friend in the chest at a party in May pleaded guilty to felony criminal endangerment Wednesday in Gallatin County District Court. He did so without a plea agreement, which means he will be subject to the judge’s discretion when he is sentenced Aug. 27. A criminal endangerment conviction carries a maximum 10 years in state prison and a $50,000 fine.

Jesse Lynn Jenkins, 20, told Judge John C. Brown that he and Alberto Getz were drinking at a party and playing a game with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Speaking outside the courtroom after his hearing, Jenkins said that during the game he pointed the gun at Getz, asked him, “Do you trust me?” and then, with the safety engaged, pulled the trigger, after which he would eject the bullet into the air for Getz to catch and place on a table. After doing so three or four times, the safety was inadvertently switched off, he said. Jenkins consequently shot Getz in the chest. The trigger on the Baby Eagle semi-automatic pistol they were using can be engaged when the safety is on but “nothing happens,” Jenkins said.

The two had played the same game on previous occasions.

“I don’t know how it happened,” Jenkins said. “I had a lot of time in jail to think about it.”

He served 60 hours in jail before his bail of $3,500 could be set and posted.

Jenkins grew up in the small town of Fairfield - population about 600. He played on state championship high school football and basketball teams while maintaining good grades, he said. He came to the Bozeman area to study engineering at Montana State University but left the program to start his own construction business in February.

But since the May 3 shooting, Jenkins’ life has been put on hold.

“It was a horrible accident,” Sue Jenkins, Jesse Jenkins’ mother, said outside the courtroom Wednesday. Sue Jenkins came with Jenkins’ sister from Great Falls to be at the hearing. “They were just playing a stupid game. We’re all just trying to get through this.”

Immediately after the May 3 shooting, Jenkins put Getz in his car and sped to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital where Getz was treated and eventually released.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, Getz sat silently in the courtroom beside a victim’s advocate and exited promptly once the hearing ended.

The two men are friends and have not been able to talk since the incident. At Jenkins’ initial hearing, Gallatin County Justice Judge Gordon Smith barred Jenkins from speaking with Getz.

Leaving the courtroom after the hearing, Getz declined to speak, saying he didn’t want to get in trouble. However, as he walked away, he pointed back at Jenkins and said, “I love you, man,” after which Sue Jenkins asked her son if he was OK.

“No,” Jenkins replied. “How am I supposed to be OK?”

When asked why he chose to waive his right to a trial and plead guilty, Jenkins’ attorney responded.

“Everybody agrees it was a stupid act,” Bill Bartlett, Jenkins’ attorney, said. “These facts are not in dispute. Jesse engaged in conduct that he knew or should have known was dangerous. Jesse made a mistake.”

But, Bartlett said, he hopes others will learn from this story and not make the same mistake.

During the hearing, Brown explained to Jenkins that by pleading guilty, he was waiving his right to a trial during which he could possibly be convicted of a felony charge of negligent endangerment which, though still a felony, carries a lesser maximum sentence.

“Just to be clear, you have pled guilty of this offense because you’re guilty of this offense,” Brown asked before accepting Jenkins’ plea.

Jodi Hausen can be reached at jhausen@dailychronicle.com or 582-2630.

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