STUART — A judge today convicted a 38-year-old Hobe Sound man on a weapons charge, just three months before his scheduled trial on accusation that he shot and killed a 19-year-old Stuart man during a January fight with another man.

Eric Wiley will face trial in February in connection with the death of Levi “Dwight” Starks, but on Tuesday Judge Sherwood Bauer convicted him on a single unrelated charge of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon at the end of a three-hour non-jury trial.

The charge usually carries a maximum 15-year sentence, but Assistant State Attorney Vicki Nichols on Monday filed paperwork seeking to have Wiley sentenced as a habitual offender, which means he could face up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in March.

Wiley was arrested in January after Starks died outside a Stuart duplex. According to court records, Wiley told Stuart police he was fighting with his sister’s boyfriend when the gun they were struggling over accidentally fired and a shot hit Starks. Starks was at the house visiting a friend and was not involved in the fight.

Authorities added the ammunition charge after they found a loaded gun clip in a dresser drawer at the Stuart home he shared with girlfriend Kimberley Starke.

Wiley’s attorney, Joe Bodiford, tried unsuccessfully today to convince Bauer that the prosecution’s case was circumstantial.

“I was actually kind of shocked,” Bodiford said of the verdict. “About three quarters of the way through his ruling was when if finally dawned on me that he was going to rule against me.”

As they filed out of the courtroom, tensions rose between members of Wiley’s family and supporters of Starks, who was a drummer at a local church. Those outside the courtroom said words were exchanged between two women in the groups, but deputies quickly quelled the tensions and helped everyone leave the courthouse.

Bodiford said Wiley was devastated by the conviction, but he plans to appeal.

“I told Eric this is the whole reason we have appellate courts,” Bodiford said. “He had to walk out of here with his head held high. That’s all he can do now.”

WIley’s trial on second-degree murder charges is scheduled to begin on Feb. 17.

Nichols would not say whether she plans to use the ammunition conviction in the case, saying only “we’re going to use all relevant, admissable evidence.”

Tags: ammunition, Dwight Starks, Eric Wiley, gun, murder, trial

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Courts, Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.