Preliminary hearing set for Rhinelander-area man charged with attempted murder
Steven Fletcher held on $30,000 cash bond
STAR JOURNAL REPORT
A March 30 preliminary hearing has been set in Oneida County Circuit Court for a 46-year-old Rhinelander-area man accused of trying to shoot his ex-girlfriend’s son at an apartment complex in the town of Pelican shortly before midnight March 11.
Steven J. Fletcher, who remains in custody on a $30,000 cash bond, was back in court Thursday for an adjourned initial appearance in which Judge Michael H. Bloom denied a reduction in the bond.
Fletcher faces felony charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and armed burglary as well as misdemeanor counts of possessing of a firearm while intoxicated and disorderly conduct. Upon conviction, the attempted murder charge alone carries a maximum possible penalty of 40 years of initial confinement in prison, followed by 20 years of extended supervision.
According reports from the sheriff’s department included with the criminal complaint, Fletcher was reportedly intoxicated the night of March 11 when he had driven up to an apartment complex on Cranes Road and fired at least two shots outside.
Fletcher is also accused of having broken into an apartment when he shot at his ex-girlfriend’s son, who then was able to wrestle the gun away from Fletcher and took it to a friend’s apartment. A sheriff’s department report further states that Fletcher’s ex-girlfriend had been asleep in the apartment when Fletcher allegedly broke in and she woke up to loud bangs and screaming before Fletcher ran out of the residence after having his gun taken away.
A sheriff’s deputy who responded to the scene reported finding Fletcher outside smoking a cigarette while sitting on a chair against an apartment building, where he was handcuffed after falling to the ground and taken into custody.
The sheriff’s department investigation at the scene found a bullet entered a coffee table inside the apartment along with a wood splinter and lead fragment in the carpet, while a .22 long rifle casing was also located near the sliding glass patio doors of the apartment, according to a sheriff’s department report.
A Ruger semi-automatic pistol reportedly fired in the apartment and wrestled away from Fletcher was also recovered and taken as evidence.
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