Man pleads guilty to fatally shooting Clinton man

CLINTON, Iowa (KWQC) - A second man has pleaded guilty in connection with the shooting death of a man in Clinton earlier this year.

Clinton County court records show Julius Graham 20, pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter, a Class D felony punishable by five years in prison.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a domestic abuse offender, also a Class D felony.

Graham will be sentenced Oct. 29.

On Feb. 17, Clinton officers responded to a shooting in the 500 block of 22nd Avenue North and found 20-year-old Brady Newsom with a gunshot wound. He later died at a local hospital.

Police said witnesses told them Graham and co-defendant Noah Pruett had been drinking and that Pruett had a gun that he gave to Graham.

According to police, Graham told police he had a black handgun with a purple grip in the area where the shooting took place and that he had it when it went off and hit Newsom.

Police were told by witnesses that Graham fired the gun at the man and that Pruett took the gun and left in a car.

Witnesses also told officers Pruett told them he hid the gun, police said.

Officers searched the area outside the home and found the gun under the deck, police said.

Court records show Pruett, 20, pleaded guilty earlier this year to involuntary manslaughter. He will be sentenced Oct. 1.

In his written guilty plea, Pruett admitted he “knowingly handed a loaded gun to an intoxicated person at a party after seeing him acting irresponsible with the gun earlier.

“Julius Graham unknowingly pointed a loaded firearm at Brady Newsom and pulled the trigger, causing his death.”