Reality TV-show shooting gets Nevada man jailtime

A 43-year-old former high school special education teacher was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in county jail and five years of probation for an April 2011 shooting involving a crew of the reality TV show "Repo Games" in his North Las Vegas neighborhood.

Carlos Enrique Barron asked Tuesday for mercy and leniency and told Clark County District Court Judge James Bixler he didn't want to go to jail. He said that in the end, no one was wounded.

"This incident has, yes, changed me. It taught me a lot of things," Barron said.

At the request of defense attorney Bennair Bateman, about a dozen of Barron's friends and family members stood in the courtroom to show their support.

But prosecutor Alexander Chen noted that a jury that acquitted Barron of the most serious offenses — two counts of attempted murder and one felony discharging a firearm into a vehicle charge — found Barron guilty in January of felony assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, burglary and misdemeanor discharging a firearm charges. He could have faced up to 22 years in state prison.

Barron, who once served as a homeowner association president, testified at trial that he was acting in self-defense when he confronted two men in a van blocking his driveway during filming down the street from his house on Vigilante Court.

"He had an opportunity to tell his side of a story," Chen said. "They didn't believe him because it didn't add up. When you have a gun and you're shooting it randomly at people, there is a potential for people to get hurt."

Police found two bullet casings near Barron's garage door and one in the middle of the street, which prosecutors said suggested that Barron followed the fleeing film crew and fired a needless shot.

Barron had a registered Glock 9mm handgun, but the gun used that night was never found.

Bixler said Barron had to be punished.

"You can't do this and not have some kind of penalty attached," the judge said.

However, he also allowed Barron to remain free at least another month, pending a status hearing on July 24.