Ooley sentenced to one year

The husband of a woman who shot two horseback riders New Year’s Eve will spend a year behind bars for driving her to the scene.

The defendant, Jeff Ooley, 43, was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley after he entered guilty pleas to charges of facilitation of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault during court proceedings last month.

As terms of his sentence, Ooley will serve one year of a four-year sentence behind bars with the remainder of his term to be spent on supervised probation. He must also undergo a drug and alcohol assessment and will be responsible for making restitution for medical bills incurred by those wounded in the amount of $21,618.

Ooley’s sentence comes after be drove his wife, Pamela Ooley, 46, to the scene of the shooting on Airport Lake Road. Mrs. Ooley is presently free on $500,000 bond awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault. Neither have a prior record.

According to evidence presented in the couple’s preliminary hearing, Ashlei Edwards, 19, was shot in the arm and Brent Newby, 27, in the stomach when Mrs. Ooley opened fire with a rifle on the dark country road, striking both as they sat on horseback.

Witnesses said Mrs. Ooley fired numerous shots from a rifle after she and her husband came upon the group of riders in their vehicle. The Ooleys came to the location after words were exchanged during a cellphone discussion with another one of the riders, but they were specifically looking for Newby when they arrived.

Newby maintains he was called a name by Mrs. Ooley, who he had never met, and that he said nothing to incite her. Lawmen say Mrs. Ooley was high on drugs when she was taken into custody hours after the shooting and claimed she had been threatened over the phone by one of the riders, prompting the armed confrontation.