NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Navy jury has sentenced a sailor to five years for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in the shooting death of an unarmed man outside a Norfolk sports bar in 2008.
Forty-three-year-old Rodney Williams was convicted by a civilian jury of the same charge last year in the death of Nicholas Nalls, but he only got a year and a $2,500 fine. The Navy was unhappy with that sentence.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that a jury of two officers and three sailors decided the sentence Friday night. He'll also get a bad-conduct discharge.
The military case isn't considered double jeopardy because the Navy tried Williams for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as opposed to state law.
Williams claimed he shot Nalls in self-defense, though no weapon was found.