PAW PAW (WKZO AM/FM) — The son of Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott has been bound over to stand trial for allegedly providing the weapon that was used in a drug related killing in February.
Prosecutors claimed in court that Abbott gave the gun to Thurman Fletcher Jr. who took it for protection during a drug sale. Fletcher claims it fell from his waistband and in the struggle for the gun that followed, he was wounded in the leg, and Eddie Holland was shot and killed.
Fletcher pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter this week.
The Prosecuting Attorney was able to track the path of the gun before and after the shooting to its sale to a man in Benton Harbor and its subsequent recovery by investigators.
The prosecution also presented witnesses who testified that Abbott sold the gun and reported it missing to police, he was bound over to stand trial for being an accessory to murder, making a false police report and a felony gun count. He could get up to five years on the charges.
