WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina man was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2018 shooting death of a college student.
Jakier Austin entered the guilty plea in Forsyth County Superior Court, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. Austin also pleaded guilty to possession of a gun on educational property and an unrelated charge of possessing a stolen firearm.
Judge David Hall consolidated the charges and sentenced Austin to serve a minimum of five years and four months to a maximum sentence of seven years and five months in prison.
Austin was initially charged with first-degree murder in the death of Najee Ali Baker, a Winston-Salem State University football player who was shot after a party held in January 2018 at Wake Forest University.
Assistant District Attorney Belinda Foster said prosecutors were hampered in pursuing a first-degree murder conviction because none of the witnesses would cooperate. Some witnesses, many of whom were college students, could not be found, and the one witness who initially told police he saw Austin shoot Baker declined to talk to investigators as prosecutors worked to get the case ready for trial, Foster said.
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