Man admits to shooting friend in face

A Lodi man who accidentally shot a friend in the face pleaded guilty Monday to discharging a firearm with gross negligence and is now temporarily in prison while awaiting sentencing.

The plea deal nearly brings to an end the lengthy case against Austin Noori, 20, who was arrested in September.

Noori and some friends were playing drinking games on Sept. 20 when he fired a gun in a home in the 900 block of Rutledge Drive, thinking it wasn't loaded, according to court hearings. The gun discharged and struck 19-year-old Joshua House in the face. House subsequently underwent several surgeries.

Noori pleaded no contest to an assault charge in November but was later allowed to withdraw the plea because he wasn't advised of all the consequences. The case continued through the court process, until a preliminary hearing when a judge ruled there was enough evidence for a trial on most of the charges, except the assault charge.

On Monday, he pleaded guilty to the charge of discharging a weapon, according to San Joaquin County court records.

A judge then placed Noori in a diagnostic program with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The program, which lasts up to 90 days, places a defendant in state prison, where officials evaluate his behavior in prison and recommend whether he should remain there or in jail. Judges sometimes use it as a way of showing defendants what prison is really like.

The case had also been slightly delayed in July, when Noori was arrested after trying to steal $156 worth of liquor and a foam ice chest from Safeway in Lodi. He subsequently missed a court date in the shooting case because he was still in jail on the theft case.

On July 15, three days after the theft arrest, Noori pleaded guilty to second-degree commercial burglary and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors. He was ordered to stay away from Safeway and serve 60 days in jail.