GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The man who allegedly supplied the gun one 5-year-old used to inadvertently shoot and kill another 5-year-old was ordered Friday to stand trial, after a preliminary hearing without a defense lawyer.
Skyé Bleu Evans-Cowley was killed in the Oct. 17 incident on Green Bay’s east side. Jordan Leavy-Carter is charged with second-degree reckless homicide, neglecting a child-consequence is death, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Despite contacting dozens of attorneys, the state Public Defender’s Office has not found anyone willing to represent Leavy-Carter. The lack of attorneys willing to take such cases has led to countless delays in the court system.
But Leavy-Carter wanted the hearing to continue, even while not being represented. He requested discovery but was told that is not provided until after the preliminary hearing.
An officer testified about the investigation, and the statements offered by the children at the scene.
Leavy-Carter tried to ask several questions about the children’s stories, and how they differed from his, but the queries were limited by the commissioner.
Arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Leavy-Carter expressed frustration at the government’s inability to find him an attorney. He asked for the hearings to continue because he doesn’t want to sit in jail for years waiting to get counsel.
According to the criminal complaint, the child who did the shooting told police Leavy-Carter gave her the gun.
“Witness 1 (a 5-year-old) said she had the gun, and she touched the wrong button, and it came out like fire, and it hit S.E.C.,” the criminal complaint states. “Witness 1 said she shot it on accident and that Jordan had passed the gun to her, and she shot the wrong button… She again reiterated that Jordan gave her the gun, she was holding it, and she shot the wrong button.”
Leavy-Carter, 35, told police he was in the kitchen when the gun went off, and then entered another room to find Evans-Crowley had been shot.
Leavy-Carter told police he left the loaded gun on a TV stand — contradicting the child’s story he gave it to her — but didn’t think the children in the home could see it.
Leavy-Carter left the scene, and was later arrested in Beloit.
“Jordan stated he had not turned himself in because he panicked and just got done doing six years. Jordan stated he knew how bad it looked and that he didn’t have a lawyer or bail money,” the complaint states.
Leavy-Carter said the gun wasn’t his gun but he had it for protection.
Evans-Cowley died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the complaint.
