Man pleads guilty to attempted murder

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A local man charged with two counts of attempted murder who was scheduled to go to trial April 30 has pleaded guilty instead to two Level 1 felonies.

Joshua E. Asher, 32, pleaded guilty on April 23. Sentencing was set for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, June 7 and is expected to last around four hours, according to online court records.

In addition to two Level 1 felony counts of attempted murder, Asher also was charged with two counts of aggravated battery, Level 3 felonies; domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor; torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal, a Level 6 felony; and invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor.

The charges stem from when police arrested Asher on Aug. 23, 2016, after they said he fired a gun at two women until the gun was empty.

Asher shot his ex-girlfriend, Angel Mack, in her right thigh and foot, police said. Nicole Hillen, a friend of Mack’s, sustained a surface gunshot wound to the chest. Both survived.

The women told police that Asher told them, “You’re going to die,” but Asher told police he did not intend to hurt his ex-girlfriend.

He told officers that he believed Mack was seeing another man.

Police said Asher also shot a dog in the leg.

He said he went to the home on Lucas Hollow Road and hid by the creek across the drive. When he saw Mack and Hillen pull up in a van, he said he fired one shot to “let them know he was there,” then continued to fire as he came toward them, the police report said.

The women’s neighbor and landlord told police that he saw Asher walking down Lucas Hollow. He said Asher walked up, hugged him and handed him a 9mm handgun.

Another resident of Lucas Hollow reported to officers that Asher told him he had shot two people.

Asher told police he knew what he did was wrong and that a friend had tried to talk him out of doing it before he went to the home, the report said.

According to Indiana Code, a Level 1 felony carries a sentencing range of 20 to 40 years with an advisory sentence of 30 years in the Department of Corrections. Asher also could face fines up to $10,000.

Asher was also charged in January 2017 with 14 counts of invasion of privacy. That case is still scheduled to go before a jury on Aug. 1 at 8 a.m. with a final pre-trial conference on July 16 at 8:30 a.m. Moore also represents Asher in that case.

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