Published on July 30, 2019
GREELEY, Colo. (Weld County D.A.) – A Weld county man was sentenced to more than three decades in prison Tuesday morning for firing shots at a Milliken officer during a pursuit in 2017.
John Lockhart was convicted of one count of attempted second degree murder in June, after a judge declared a mistrial for this charge in March because the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision.
However, during the trial in March, the jury found him guilty of vehicle eluding.
A Weld judge sentenced Lockhart Tuesday morning to the maximum sentence of 32 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the attempted second-degree murder charge.
He was also sentenced to three years in DOC for the vehicle eluding charge which will run consecutive to the 32 year prison sentence.
In June of 2017, a Milliken officer attempted to pull Lockhart over for driving 115 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour speed limit zone. During the pursuit, the defendant fired three shots at the officer’s vehicle. One bullet entered the vehicles driver’s side headlight but the officer was not injured.
“This officer is lucky to be alive today,” Weld Chief Deputy District Attorney Tony Perea said. “This officer was simply attempting to enforce the law but instead she almost lost her life. He absolutely deserves the maximum sentence for this senseless act.”