A Columbus man has been sentenced to 10 to 13.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to shooting a woman in the back as she tried to drive away from him in 2023. Fallen Fugate entered his guilty plea on Oct. 14 to felonious assault with a three-year firearm specification, and the remaining charges against him were dropped.
According to NBC4 WCMH-TV, Columbus police responded to reports of a shooting at 11:27 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2023, in the 100 block of Lechner Avenue. The outlet reported that the adult female victim was attempting to drive away from the shooter in an alley when she was struck in the back and taken to a hospital for emergency surgery. One NBC4 report placed the shooting in the 100 block of Lechner Avenue, while an earlier account from the same outlet described a couple arriving near the 200 block of Lechner Avenue to purchase drugs before the shooting unfolded — a discrepancy that has not been reconciled in available reporting.
Charges Stacked Up After a December Arrest
Fugate was arrested on Dec. 13, 2023, after a warrant was issued following the shooting, the station reported. He faced felonious assault, a second-degree felony; tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; having a weapon under disability, a third-degree felony; and unlawful use of a weapon by a violent career criminal, a first-degree felony. Ohio's felonious assault statute, codified under Section 2903.11 of the Ohio Revised Code, covers knowingly causing serious physical harm to another person. The three-year firearm specification Fugate pleaded guilty to falls under Section 2941.145, which adds mandatory prison time for displaying, brandishing, or using a firearm while committing certain offenses.
Reports about Fugate's age have also varied. One account from the outlet's reporting on the December 2023 arrest described him as 33 years old at the time, while the outlet's more recent coverage of his guilty plea and sentencing identifies him as 36. Both descriptions come from the same news organization's reporting at different points in the case.
A Fleeing Car and a Fight for Survival
The earlier police account indicated Fugate allegedly fired several shots at a departing car, striking the woman in the back while she was in the driver's seat. The woman and the man she was with managed to drive away before calling police, and she underwent emergency surgery at an area hospital once she reached care. Her car was later found on Belvidere Avenue, according to police.
The having-weapon-under-disability charge against Fugate, one of those ultimately dropped in the plea deal, falls under Section 2923.13 of the Ohio Revised Code, which bars certain people, including those with prior violent convictions, from possessing firearms. The tampering-with-evidence charge he also faced is defined under Section 2921.12 as altering, destroying, or concealing evidence with intent to impair an investigation.
What the Plea Deal Means for Sentencing
By pleading guilty only to felonious assault with the firearm specification, Fugate avoided prosecution on the three other felony counts he originally faced, including the first-degree felony tied to his status as a violent career criminal. His resulting 10- to 13.5-year sentence reflects Ohio's indefinite sentencing structure for qualifying felonies: Section 2929.14 of the Ohio Revised Code sets the minimum term, while Section 2929.144 determines the maximum term.
Neither the circumstances that first brought the couple to the Lechner Avenue area that night nor further details about the woman's recovery have been independently confirmed beyond what Columbus police described to reporters at the time. What is documented is the outcome nearly three years later: a guilty plea, a decade-plus sentence, and a case that began with gunfire in a Hilltop-area alley on a November night in 2023.
