A 28-year-old parolee who shot two men a week apart in Jacksonville and North Little Rock is headed to prison on a 10-year sentence.
Sentencing papers filed Monday show Morgan Andrew Dobbins of Jacksonville pleaded guilty to first-degree battery, reduced from attempted capital murder, and possession of a firearm by certain persons in exchange for the 10-year term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Cathi Compton.
Under the plea agreement negotiated by deputy prosecutor Christy Bjornson and defense attorney Will James, the sentence will run concurrently with the eight-year sentence Dobbins received in October in Lonoke County for second-degree battery and firearm possession for shooting another man in Jacksonville.
Court records show the two shootings occurred nine days apart in March 2019, about four months after Dobbins had been approved for parole.
On March 17, North Little police found Scott Titus Gossett of North Little Rock who had been shot seven times, suffering from 10 wounds, at a city hospital.
From his hospital bed, Gossett, 23, told investigators that he'd gone to the Motel 6 at 4100 E. McCain Blvd. to meet a friend in a room but instead encountered Dobbins, who pulled out a gun, told him, "You're going to die today, bitch" and opened fire, court records show.
Gossett said he was able to flee the room and have a friend take him to the hospital. Gossett told police he knew Dobbins. Witnesses at the motel directed police to a bag carried by Dobbins that held paraphernalia for weighing and selling drugs, some .22-caliber bullets, a knife and clothes.
Trevor Schneider was shot March 26 at 766 Sherman Hill Road. Schneider told Lonoke County sheriff's deputies that he'd been staying with Jesse Beard at the residence. Schneider said he was awakened around 3 a.m. by a man asking for Beard. Schneider said he told the man he didn't know Beard, and the man left the house to get into a car. The man pulled a gun and pointed it at Schneider, saying "Just playing" but started shooting.
Schneider, who was shot in the left forearm and shoulder, fled through the house and into the backyard where he hid while the gunman left. Schneider then called for help.
Deputies determined that Dobbins could be the gunman, and two days later Schneider, from the ICU, identified Dobbins as the man who shot him.
Schneider said he recognized Dobbins as having visited the house earlier in the day but that he did not know his name, court filings show.
Court records show Dobbins has been on probation or parole since April 2014 when he pleaded guilty to drug charges stemming from a September 2013 arrest with methamphetamine and a drug-smoking pipe.
An Oct. 26, 2016, arrest in Sherwood with methamphetamine, scales and baggies led to a guilty plea that extended his probation for four years in May 2017. However, he accepted a four-year prison sentence in April 2018 for violating his probation for the third time by testing positive for marijuana.
Dobbins was approved for parole in November 2018.