KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Shooter's plea deal gets him 8 years -- on his birthday

Shooter's plea deal gets him 8 years -- on his birthday

by Channel 2 News staff
Tuesday, August 4, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An Anchorage man was sentenced to eight years in prison for a shooting in Fairview earlier this summer.

James Blair pleaded guilty Monday to attempted assault for the shooting near 12th Avenue and Gambell Street on May 23.

Blair spent his first full day in prison for the shooting on Tuesday -- his 26th birthday.

Police found 23-year-old Adrian Beaver lying on the street, bleeding from two gunshot wounds, one in the thigh and one in the arm. Two visiting military men saw it happen and followed Blair as he fled on foot.

Beaver told police officers he had been walking down the street and was shot by Blair, whom he did not know, after he called Blair "no good" and a "punk," according to a press release from the Anchorage District Attorneys Office.

Beaver made a full recovery.

Blair was convicted of burglary in 2004 and has been convicted of 14 misdemeanors since 2002.

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