photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Jermey Anthony Johnson is pictured during a plea hearing on March 29, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Johnson pleaded no contest to felony counts of criminal discharge of a firearm and criminal damage in connection with a shooting at a Lawrence nightclub.

A man originally charged with attempted murder after what was alleged to have been a revenge-fueled drive-by shooting pleaded no contest to lesser crimes Wednesday in Douglas County District Court.

Jermey Anthony Johnson, 25, originally faced two counts of attempted first-degree murder by firing multiple rounds from a firearm at a person in connection with an incident on Aug. 1, 2021, according to charging documents. The incident occurred at the now closed Allstars Gentleman’s Club at 913 N. Second St., as the Journal-World reported.

Johnson entered a no contest plea to one count of criminal discharge of a firearm and one count of criminal damage to property, both low-level felonies, as part of a plea agreement with the state. Johnson lived in Lawrence at the time of the incident, but his attorney, Angela Keck, said during the hearing that he currently lives in Missouri with his parents.

Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal said on Wednesday that the factual basis for Johnson’s plea was that Johnson fired a gun at the building knowing multiple people were inside and caused more than $1,000 in damage.

Johnson has been free on a $100,000 cash or surety bond since shortly after his arrest in July 2022. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10.

According to an affidavit in support of Johnson’s arrest, he was in a fight early that evening with Christopher Shane Wuenstel, 24, and Daequan Jermaine Rayton, 25, both of Topeka. It was alleged that Wuenstel and Rayton beat up Johnson, after which Johnson left the club and returned with a gun and shot at the club from his car on the street, trying to kill the men he fought with, as the Journal-World reported.

Wuenstel and Rayton were each charged with aggravated battery in connection with the incident, but those charges were dismissed in September 2022 without prejudice, meaning that the charges could be refiled. Rayton was also acquitted by a Douglas County jury earlier that month after shooting a man at the Outhouse nightclub on Jan. 1, 2022, and arguing that he had shot the man, who lived, in self-defense.