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A 20-year-old Albert Lea man who shot another man in the leg in May 2022 on Louis Street in Albert Lea was sentenced Wednesday in Freeborn County District Court to five years of probation and a stayed 36-month prison term.

Javen Juan Moreno in April pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon as part of a plea agreement with the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office. A second count of ineligible person in possession of a firearm was dismissed.

The sentence means Moreno will likely not have to serve the prison term unless he violates his probation.

Freeborn County District Court Judge Ross Leuning also sentenced Moreno to 50 days in the Freeborn County jail with credit for 50 days served, along with 40 hours of Sentence to Service. While on probation, he must follow a series of conditions, including not using or possessing alcohol or drugs, having no contact with the victim, completing cognitive skills training and not using or possessing firearms, ammunition or explosives, among others.

The sentence was considered a downward dispositional departure, when the court stays execution of sentence when the guidelines call for execution of sentence.

A letter from Moreno’s mother to Leuning said her son is enrolled in college and has a job and in the last year has grown “leaps and bounds.”

She wrote about how he regrets many of his past mistakes but is pushing himself every day to become better.

Moreno reportedly shot another man in the leg after he tried to intervene when Moreno and Moreno’s girlfriend were arguing. The victim reportedly tried to get them to leave the residence. The victim and Moreno reportedly began to argue because Moreno did not want him involved in the argument.

Witnesses then reportedly saw Moreno pull out a gun from his backpack and then heard him slide the gun and then shoot it. The victim was transported to the emergency room at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and then sent to Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Moreno was standing in the middle of the street at the time of the shooting but fled afterward, according to witnesses. He was arrested after a traffic stop a few weeks later on Interstate 90 west of Bridge Avenue.