Accomplice to shooting of Deputy Dewey agrees to plea deal

Mahnomen, Minn. (WDAY TV) - A man accused of being an accomplice in the February shooting of Mahnomen County Sheriff's Deputy will at the most spend two years in prison.

That's the result of a plea deal reached today for 27-year-old Daniel Vernier.

In it, Vernier pleaded guilty to the charge of failure to render assistance after Deputy Christopher Dewey was shot.

16 other charges he was facing are now dropped. He'll learn his sentence in September.

Vernier also agreed to testify against 33-year-old Thomas Fairbanks.

Today Vernier testified on February 18th he only heard shots fired behind him and didn't see whether it was Fairbanks or Dewey that was shot.

It wasn't until he fled the scene and saw Fairbanks that he deduced that it was Dewey who'd been shot.