A man who shot his girlfriend in the legs at their Ridgefield apartment was sentenced Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to nine years in prison.
Vadim V. Paliy, 28, pleaded guilty in March to first-degree domestic violence assault stemming from the Jan. 7, 2017, shooting. He initially appeared on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder but was later charged with assault, court records show.
As part of his plea agreement, the prosecution dismissed a firearm enhancement that would have added more time to Paliy’s sentence.
The victim, Megan Johnson, suffered a shattered right femur and flesh wound to her left leg, according to court records. In a written statement Thursday, she told the court she still does not have the full use of her leg.
At about 2:20 p.m., Paliy called 911 from the parking lot of the Ridgefield Police Department and said he had shot his girlfriend and wanted to turn himself in. He said Johnson was at their apartment on North Simons Street, and was still alive when he left, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Responding officers found Paliy sitting in the parking lot at the station next to a black handgun and located Johnson at the apartment with gunshot wounds to her upper legs. She was transported to a hospital, the affidavit states.
Johnson told officers at the hospital that she and Paliy had been fighting over money. Paliy recently retrieved some of his firearms from police evidence, she said, after they were seized in 2016 as part of a domestic violence incident that was later dismissed, court records say.
Paliy told officers that he had intended to pull the firearm from his waistband but Johnson lunged for it, and it went off, according to court documents.
On Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Deb Wechselblatt told the court that the shooting happened within a week of Paliy getting his firearms back.
“He’s demonstrated that he’s a danger to the community,” Wechselblatt said, adding that Paliy shouldn’t have access to firearms.
Paliy’s attorney, Edward Leroy Dunkerly, said that his client had issues with alcohol and potentially drugs but said he is remorseful. If the case had gone to trial, the defense would have argued that the shooting was accidental or caused by negligence, Dunkerly said.
Paliy declined to make a statement to the court.
Judge Daniel Stahnke imposed the attorneys’ agreed-upon sentencing recommendation of 108 months in prison and 36 months of community custody. Paliy will also have to undergo domestic violence and substance abuse treatment and cannot own firearms.
