A 65-year-old man accused of allegedly shooting a burglar in his Eugene home in April 2022 was sentenced to two years of probation on Thursday by a Lane County Circuit Court Judge after pleading guilty to a single count of “Felon in Possession of a Firearm.”
According to a probable cause affidavit, Joseph Watling, 65, told Eugene police he was sleeping in his home with his partner when they heard a muffled noise at their back door. Watling grabbed his gun and went to investigate the noise when he “saw a guy climbing through the window” and “popped a shot off at him.”
Watling told police he used an M4 rifle to shoot the burglar, who was identified by the name “Williams” in court documents. He went on to tell police that he was a new gun owner and had bought the gun from a friend a few months before the incident.
“Watling said due to the craziness in the US he took the recommendation of others and got a gun,” court documents outlined. He also told police that he served three years in prison for a burglary conviction in Ohio in the late 1970s. Officers later discovered he had a second conviction in Washington in the late 1990s where he was charged with Felony Harassment – Constituting Domestic Violence.