No attempted murder charge for shooter

Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Ryan Payne

Still facing three felony charges for a Sunday incident in which a bullet from his gun grazed another’s head, a Greencastle man will not be charged with attempted murder.

Instead, Ryan Payne, 27, faces formal charges of Level 5 felony intimidation with a deadly weapon, Level 5 felony battery with a deadly weapon and Level 6 felony criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon.

If convicted on all counts, Payne could still be convicted to nearly 15 years in prison.

Following Payne’s Sunday arrest, Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter filed charges in Putnam Superior Court on Tuesday.

Payne’s initial charges by arresting officers included Level 1 felony attempted murder, as well as the criminal recklessness and intimidation charges.

Court documents indicate the Sunday incident began with Payne upset with Oceaia Boetjer, one of the other people at the scene of the shooting, for taking her son to the location. Payne told investigating officer Deputy Scott Ducker he believed the owner of the house sells methamphetamine.

Payne also told deputies the child is not his son.

When Payne arrived on the scene, he was met outside the house by Bradley Cox and his son Kyle Cox. Both Payne and Bradley Cox had handguns on them, though they do not agree on who pointed his gun at the other man first.

In the ensuing altercation, Kyle Cox was struck on the side of the head by Payne’s pistol and the gun went off, with the bullet grazing Kyle Cox’s head. Bradley Cox told Ducker the gun went off when Payne attempted to hit his son on the head with it. Payne said the two men took him down and his gun went off at that point.

Regardless, Payne was disarmed by the other two men before officers arrived, with the suspect telling Ducker he was “choked out.”

Bradley Cox said he had injured his arm/wrist area and believed it happened while taking down Payne.

Ducker arrived to find Payne and Boetjer next to his van. Bradley and Kyle Cox were inside the home.

Boetjer told deputies that after the altercation, she took Payne’s gun to his van and Cox’s gun into his house.

After Ducker had interviewed the various subjects on the scene - excluding Kyle Cox, who had been transported to the hospital - he had Deputy Kyle Lee escort Payne to the Putnam County Jail to be booked in.

Payne remained in jail as of Tuesday evening, having not yet made his initial court appearance.

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  • Did any of the deputies think to look for signs of meth once the allegation was out there???

    -- Posted by gustave&zelma on Fri, Aug 23, 2019, at 8:18 AM
  • *

    I would guess that unless it was in "plain view" (not likely), the police could do nothing.

    You have to have a warrant for a search, which would require probable cause to be shown to a judge. Someone saying someone else is selling drugs is not probable cause.

    -- Posted by dreadpirateroberts on Fri, Aug 23, 2019, at 9:00 AM
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