A California woman who fatally shot her husband in the forehand allegedly by accident was sentenced this week after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter, KEYT-TV reports.
Skylar Marie Marshall must serve seven years for the crime, which resulted in the death of her 35-year-old husband, Alexander Hagist. Duffy will be required to serve two years in county jail and five years on community supervision.
On July 16, 2020, Marshall shot Hagist in their San Luis Obispo apartment. Authorities received multiple reports of a gunshot and a woman screaming, prompting officers to respond, according to police.
Marshall reportedly told investigators that she pointed a semi-automatic handgun at her husband’s head, but she was not entirely sure whether it was loaded.
“Marshall told San Luis Obispo Police officers she thought the gun was unloaded but was not ‘one hundred percent’ sure when she pulled the trigger because she did not check the gun or magazine,” prosecutors said in a press release.
Police determined that Marshall had experience with the gun and that both her husband and roommate had warned her not to point the weapon at others.
However, investigators also found that the couple, who had been married for about one year, had both joked around with the gun and would point it at each other, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
The sentence concludes the prosecution of Marshall, who was initially charged with murder in connection with the shooting death. A judge later dismissed the murder charge, but prosecutors were permitted to charge her with the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter.
“Marshall entered a plea of no contest to the sole remaining charge of manslaughter and admitted that she used a handgun in the crime,” prosecutors said in the press release. “A no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea, and the court found Marshall guilty of involuntary manslaughter with a gun.”
Hagist’s loved ones testified at the sentencing hearing, calling him “an amazing father with the heart of a lion, infectious positive, upbeat personality, and beacon of light,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Marshall’s lawyer, William Gamble, told Law&Crime that his client did not mean to shoot her husband.
“It was a stupid act to do,” Gamble told the news outlet. “It was clear she had absolutely no intention to harm him at all.
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[Feature Photo: Skylar Marie Marshall/San Luis Obispo Police Department]
