OROVILLE — Over the objections of the Butte County District Attorney’s Office, an Oroville man received a sentence of two years’ probation Thursday as a result of the shooting death of an Oroville 15-year-old in May.
Christopher Noakes, 20, of Oroville, will spend the next two years on probation after Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Deems rejected a request by the District Attorney’s Office and the Butte County Probation Department. Both of those had recommended a three-year state prison term.
Noakes was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the reckless shooting death of the teen relative who had an in-law relationship with the shooter.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said officers from the Oroville Police Department arrested Noakes for the May 18 shooting, after a 911 call sent police to a Fort Wayne Street address. Officers arrived and found the boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the head in Noakes’ bedroom.
Officers started life-saving efforts but those were ineffective; medical personnel pronounced the youth dead at the scene.
Noakes pleaded no contest in September to the felony count of involuntary manslaughter.
Ramsey said an investigation by Oroville police detectives revealed the teen was visiting with Noakes and the teen had brought with him a semi-automatic handgun. Authorities subsequently determined the pistol had been stolen from a vehicle in Oroville a day earlier.
Ramsey said Noakes and the teen were friends and in-laws, and were “hanging out” in Noakes’ bedroom while communicating with a friend of the teen using a conference feature on a mobile device.
Noakes said he took the gun, which had been in the boy’s waistband, and claimed to be “fooling around” when he pulled the slide back on the gun, then pointed the gun at the boy’s head and pulled the trigger. The gun discharged into boy’s left temple.
Noakes said he did not know the weapon was loaded and claimed to have played with the gun the day before with the boy and it was unloaded.
Ramsey said the evidence pointed to an unintentional shooting, but one with tragic and awful consequences because of its gross and reckless negligence.
The teen’s mother wrote a statement to the judge, noting the devastating effect upon her family, and stating she had tried to keep her son away from the Noakes residence. She also said two gun deaths took place in summer 2023 involving juveniles “playing” with guns.
The probation department recommended a middle-term, three-year state prison sentence given the gross negligence involved. Prosecutors pointed to Noakes’ first statements to responders that the teen “had shot himself” and even after later admitting he shot the teen, continued to claim the teen had handed him the weapon.
However, witnesses on the other end of the teleconference call stated Noakes took the gun from the teen’s waistband, then “racked” the slide back and pulled the trigger.
Deems said he felt the crime was a result of unusual circumstances and, because Noakes had no criminal record, he gave Noakes the two-year probation term with a condition that he serve 180 days in the Butte County Jail.
Prosecutors and the probation department asked that Noakes, at a minimum, be remanded into custody to begin his sentence immediately, noting he had been allowed out of jail on his own recognizance within five days of the shooting. Deems rejected the request, allowing Noakes to remain out for the holidays with his family and not turn himself in to the jail until Jan. 5.
Ramsey noted that the 15-year-old would not be home for the holidays and said that with normal time credits, Noakes would only serve half of his 180-day probationary jail condition.
