Man serving jail term for shooting brother with snake shot 

By Neal Putnam
For The Alpine Sun

     EL CAJON--An Alpine man who was sentenced to a year in jail for shooting his older brother with snake shot has a projected release date of August 15, according to the sheriff's department.
     Cody Lane Summers, 28, has been in jail since the Dec. 16, 2009, incident on the Sequan Truck Trail in Alpine when he shot Zack Summers, 31, four times with a .22 caliber pistol loaded with snake shot. The brother was shot twice in the head and twice in the shoulders, and hospitalized, but the injuries were not life threatening.
Cody Summers pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and was placed on five years probation on May 18 by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Charles Ervin. The judge suspended a 10-year prison term, and gave him credit for already serving 230 days in jail including time off for good behavior.
     Cody Summers was also given probation for misdemeanor drunk driving and was ordered by the judge to not drink alcohol for five years. Ervin also ordered him not to be in places where alcohol is the main item for sale.
Ervin signed a restraining order that bars Cody Summers from being within 100 yards of Zack Summers. He ordered him to complete an anger management program, to pay a fine of $1,214, and pay probation supervision costs of $1,127, according to court records.
     Cody Summers told sheriff's deputies that the incident started when Zack Summers came to their parents' home in the 15000 block of Sequan Truck Trail and began yelling at his mother about the family business, which is located in El Cajon. Cody Summers said he told his brother to stop upsetting his mother, and Zack punched him in the eye, according to his probation report.
     The defendant said he saw Zack run to his truck and search his backpack. Cody Summers claimed his brother was known for carrying a gun and he shot his brother with the snake shot before his brother could find a weapon, according to what Cody Summers told probation officials.
The brothers' mother got into Zack Summers' truck and went with him to Grossmont Hospital, where Zack Summers was interviewed by deputies about the incident. Zack Summers was later taken to the trauma unit at Sharp Memorial Hospital.
     Cody Summers said he began drinking whiskey after they left. When deputies showed up, he hid in bushes, but he later surrendered after his grandmother urged him to turn himself in, records say.
     "The only thing I could have done differently was when he showed up, I should have called 911," Cody Summers was quoted as saying to probation officials.
     The defendant said he didn't know how he got the pistol with snake shot, but he acknowledged drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana beforehand. He said he did not mean to injure his brother.
 

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