A Lawrenceville man has been convicted of shooting a woman who had to be put into a medically induced coma for three weeks as a result of her injuries, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said.
Bryan Hutcheson, 39, was found guilty of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon Wednesday. The jury returned its verdict after a three-day trial.
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Judge Debra Turner sentenced Hutcheson to 25 years, with 15 to serve in prison.
On Feb. 16, Norcross police officers found the victim naked, wrapped in a comforter with a gunshot wound to the stomach on the sidewalk outside the Guest Inn in Norcross. The woman was going in and out of consciousness, but was able to tell officers that Hutcheson had shot her in the stomach, the DA’s office said. The woman was transported to a hospital and underwent surgery before being placed into a medically induced coma.
Crime scene investigators found a hospital bracelet with Hutcheson’s name in a hotel room at the Guest Inn and a purse and leggings that belonged to the victim. The hotel room “appeared to be wiped down,” but investigators were able to find a fingerprint that matched Hutcheson, the DA’s office said. Surveillance video from the hotel showed Hutcheson, the victim and another man walking into the hotel room on the night of Feb. 15, with the other man leaving around 1:30 a.m. Feb. 16 and Hutcheson leaving “in a hurry” and carrying bags around 9 a.m., the DA’s office said.
When the victim woke from her coma, she told police that Hutcheson shot her as she walked through the hotel room. After she was shot, she heard Hutcheson saying to someone on the phone “I finally shot that b----h,” the DA’s office said. The victim told Hutcheson to leave so she could get help, and Hutcheson told her “if she did not die, he would be back,” and to blame the shooting on the other man who had been in the hotel room the previous night, the DA’s office said.
Hutcheson fled to Indiana after the shooting, but was arrested March 19.
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