Mar 31, 2016 3 min read

A Washington man was sentenced to more than six years in prison Thursday in the 2015 killing of his girlfriend’s stepfather.

Washington County Judge Gary Gilman sentenced Jerald Thompson, 19, to six to 12 years in prison on a charge of third-degree homicide.

Gilman sentenced him to one to two months on each of two charges of reckless endangerment. All sentences will be served consecutively.

The charges stem from a Feb. 6, 2015, incident in which Thompson fatally shot Jerred Price, 42, with a rifle from a second-story window of Thompson’s house on Addison Street.

Gilman handed down his sentence at a hearing where two of Jerred Price’s family members – sister CharLee Williams and sister-in-law Janet Price – made statements in which they described the grief Thompson’s actions caused.

Janet Price said she didn’t want to see Thompson spend the rest of his life in prison, and hoped one day he could have a positive impact on his son’s or another young man’s life.

Williams said she wanted Thompson to learn from his punishment.

“We feel sorry for the defendant, but we feel that the defendant should go away long enough to realize what he has done to our family and his,” Williams said.

Thompson expressed remorse in a brief statement before he was sentenced.

“I made a terrible choice,” he said. “I have to live with it.”

Thompson’s girlfriend, Logan Price, testified during a preliminary hearing last year that she and Thompson weren’t fighting that morning. She did, however, exchange words with Thompson’s mother when Thompson got up to tend to their 7-month-old son. Price said she felt pain in her side. Thompson’s mother called her a lazy mother.

Logan Price decided to leave and texted her mother, who arrived with her stepfather. Logan Price came to their car in tears, and the three went to retrieve the infant from the house.

Jerred Price was in front of the house when he was shot in the head and upper back. Logan Price and her mother had turned around after seeing Thompson with the rifle and were in the car when they heard the gunshots.

Thompson pleaded guilty in November in an “open plea” deal with prosecutors, meaning neither party suggested a penalty. Gilman ordered the county Adult Probation Office to conduct a pre-sentence investigation.

Gilman said Thompson showed “some element of intent” in firing twice. At the same time, Gilman said, he weighed an expert opinion from a psychiatrist consulted in that investigation who said years of abuse Thompson suffered as a child came into play during the fatal shooting.

“It’s sad that he had to be a victim and witness that on what appears to be a somewhat routine basis,” Gilman said.

Thompson told police after the shooting that he acted to protect himself, his child and property.

Attorney Sean Logue, who represents Thompson, cited the psychiatrist’s opinion and said Thompson’s “going overboard” in protecting his rights and property was tied to the treatment Thompson suffered as a child. He said following the hearing that he respected the way Gilman weighed that history of abuse as a factor in his decision.

“I’m both pleased and impressed that he really looked at what the experts said (in the pre-sentencing report) when considering the final sentence in the case,” Logue said.