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A Hydesville man has five days to decide whether he’ll accept 15 years in state prison or risk a conviction that could put him behind bars for life.

Felt

This morning Deputy District Attorney Josh Rosenfeld made this offer to Casey Floyd Felt, accused of shooting his girlfriend in January 2017 near Miranda: nine years in prison for assault with a semi-automatic handgun, four years for inflicting great bodily injury on a person he was dating and two years for a second count of assault with a handgun.

Rosenfeld told Judge Christopher Wilson the offer remains open until Monday. As of now Felt’s jury trial remains set for Aug. 20. If the 38-year-old Felt chooses to go to trial, one of the charges is personal use of a firearm to injure someone. This is the so-called “Use a Gun and You’re Done” law, with a conviction adding 25 years to life to any prison sentence.

Should he decide to accept the prosecution’s offer, Felt would admit personal use of a firearm. He would not be sentenced for that crime but the admission would be part of his criminal record.

Felt’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Christine Elizabeth Turkovich, was shot in the leg while in a camper on Avenue of the Giants near Miranda. A SWAT team arrested Felt five days later while serving a search warrant at his residence on Felt Road in Hydesville.

Felt posted $150,000 bail in April 2017 and was released from jail. But six months later, when the District Attorney’s Office added the charge of personal use of a firearm, bail was raised to $1 million and he was back in custody.

Felt is represented by private attorney Michael Acosta.