According to prosecutors, two men shot bouncer Jimmy Beasley at a downtown Charleston nightclub in 2014. But on Wednesday, one of the men was handed a much stiffer sentence than the other - who has already been released from jail.
George Sawyer, 31, was ordered to spend as long as 15 years in prison for malicious wounding and wanton endangerment. Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey called Sawyer a danger to society and handed down the maximum sentence the charges carry - two to 10 years for malicious wounding and five years for wanton endangerment. The judge said the sentences are to run one after the other.
In January, the day his trial was set to begin, Sawyer made a deal with prosecutors. He admitted that he fired the shots that hit Beasley multiple times at the corner of Kanawha Boulevard and Capitol Street.
The shooting occurred after Sawyer and another man, Tasheem Collins, left The Cellar nightclub, where Beasley was working.
Collins, 39, also made a deal with prosecutors in January, but his deal allowed him to be released almost immediately from jail. Collins entered a Kennedy plea, under which a defendant doesn't admit guilt, to two counts of wanton endangerment.
Collins' plea deal was binding, meaning if the judge didn't agree to sentence Collins to just a year for each count, he could have withdrawn it. After the judge accepted it - "somewhat reluctantly," she said at the time - Collins was immediately sentenced. He has already been released from jail.
Both men originally faced charges of attempted murder, among others. Police and prosecutors alleged both men fired shots at Beasley after being kicked out of the bar.
Prosecutors say they had more evidence against Sawyer.
"He's not necessarily more culpable. The evidence is stronger with regard to Mr. Sawyer," assistant Kanawha prosecutor Michele Drummond said after Wednesday's sentencing.
Sawyer is on video firing shots and Collins is not, she said.
Last year, attorneys for Sawyer and Collins asked Bailey to dismiss the charges against their clients because of problems with some of the video surveillance footage that captured the shooting.
Richard Holicker, a deputy Kanawha public defender who represented Collins, previously argued that the video of the shooting provided by prosecutors couldn't be enhanced. A clearer version would have proven Collins didn't shoot Beasley, Holicker has said.
Sawyer's attorneys, Matthew Victor and Brendan Doneghy, have argued that Sawyer was acting in self-defense the night of the shooting. They said Beasley also had a gun the night he was shot.
Prosecutors say those claims aren't true.
"He had a flashlight. There is no evidence he had a gun," Drummond said. "If you watch the video, it's clear that Jimmy is walking away with his back turned toward the shooter."
Beasley spent more than two months in the hospital after the shooting. He has had to relearn how to talk and walk.
Like prosecutors, Beasley's wife, Donna, asked Bailey to give Sawyer the maximum sentence.
Before the judge sentenced him, Sawyer spoke and said that he prays for Beasley's full recovery, his lawyer said.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.