photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Miles Brian Smothers

A Lawrence man was granted probation on Friday after he was convicted of firing a gun at a residence with children inside.

The man, Miles Brian Smothers, 20, was charged in Douglas County District Court for recklessly firing a gun at a residence with people inside. The charge was in connection with an incident on Jan. 28 in the 1500 block of Wedgewood Drive. Inside the home was a mother and her two young children, as the Journal-World reported.

Smothers pleaded no contest to the charge in October and his sentencing was continued in November for his attorney, Michael Page, to ask the court for a departure from his mandatory prison sentence, according to court records.

Using a firearm in the commission of a felony in Kansas comes with a mandatory prison sentence unless a judge determines that a treatment program is available that would better reform the defendant than prison could, according to Kansas law.

Page asked in his motion for probation that the court consider Smother’s age and immaturity at the time of the crime. Page wrote that since the day of the shooting, Smothers has changed the crowd with whom he was spending time and Smothers has taken a job that Smothers enjoys. He told the court that an alternative to prison that exists in the community would better serve his client’s reformation than prison.

“He is very sorry to the victims in this case and understands how this case could very easily have been even so much worse. He understands the victims will likely live with this fear for a long, long time,” Page wrote in the motion.

Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced Smothers to 13 months in prison, which she then suspended to 24 months of probation. She ordered Smothers to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and to follow any treatment recommendations that may come from the evaluator. She also sentenced Smothers to 100 hours of community service, according to court records.