Eischens sentenced to 15 years
Minneota native Jeremy Alan Eischens was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday in Sioux Falls for the 2017 shooting death of his younger brother, Brandon.
Jeremy was sentenced by Judge Robin Houwman to 40 years in the state penitentiary; with 25 years suspended.
Brandon Eischens was a 2011 graduate of Minneota High School. Jeremy attended high school at Minneota, but dropped out before graduating.
Jeremy was arrested in July of 2017 after bringing his brother to the Avera West Hospital in Sioux Falls following the incident.
Jeremy had told police officers that his brother, then 24, was visiting him at his Sioux Falls apartment to drop off car keys to travel to Colorado to purchase drugs, according to Lt. Michael Colwill.
At some point during the visit, Jeremy admittedly told officers that he had taken a gun out of his pocket to show Brandon and that it had accidentally discharged two bullets.
When Jeremy brought Brandon into the emergency room at Avera West with multiple gunshot wounds, he initially claimed that his brother had been shot as a result of a drive-by shooting.
Brandon did not survive his injuries, which included one bullet that passed through one of his lungs and the other striking his heart.
Later, Jeremy admitted that he had been drinking and smoking marijuana prior to the incident. Because police believed the shooting was a reckless use of a deadly weapon, Jeremy was charged with first and second degree manslaughter, as well as drug-related charges.
Jeremy pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in court in Sept. of 2018.
During a search of his apartment following the shooting, police officers found $29,000 in cash, along with marijuana and drug paraphernalia. But the gun was never found. Lt. Colwill also said there were three other male witnesses in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
The three witnesses traveled with Jeremy in transporting Brandon to the emergency room. Jeremy has a history of criminal activity.
He had been arrested and found guilty of assault after choking and hitting Brandon in 2014.
He had also previously had been arrested on drug charges. More than a dozen members of the Eischens family was in attendance for the sentencing.
According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Defense Attorney Betsy Doyle argued that Jeremy and Brandon were best friends and that the shooting was nothing more than an accident.
Doyle also told Judge Houwman that Jeremy understood the consequences of his actions that fateful day and that he has completed drug and alcohol treatment while being incarcerated.
Judge Houwman allowed a video to be played in the courtroom during sentencing that the Eischens family had put together, showing how close the brothers were.
Several letters were also read in court by Jeremy's friends and family members, requesting that Judge Houwman grant his release and allow him to go home.
But Mark Joyce, the Minnehaha County State's Attorney, requested that Jeremy receive the maximum 30 years in prison which were previously laid out in Eischens' plea agreement, according to the Argus Leader.
Joyce also told the court that Jeremy was a drug dealer and the reason he had a gun was to protect himself because of his dealings.
And Joyce reiterated that the shootings showed no evidence of an accident because the Division of Criminal Investigation found that Brandon was shot twice on different parts of his body at different angles.
Doyle said none of the witnesses reported hearing more than one shot and supported Jeremy's version of events.
Jeremy also was allowed to issue a statement, telling the court that his brother's death was “the most traumatic thing that has ever happened to me.”
In her sentencing, Judge Houwman said evidence showed this was likely not an accident and that Jeremy's drug dealings and alcohol played a part in his brother's death.