The Associated Press
BENTONVILLE, Ark. - A former Arkansas state trooper was sentenced today to 90 days in jail for fatally shooting an unarmed, mentally disabled man he mistook for a Michigan fugitive.
Larry Norman pleaded guilty in May to misdemeanor negligent homicide and admitted he mistakenly shot Joseph Hamley in March 2006.
Norman was also sentenced to a year of probation, including community service at a school for disabled people.
Norman and other officers mistook Hamley for Adam Leadford, an escapee from Saginaw County (Michigan). Hamley ignored commands to keep his hands out of his pockets, something his mother described as a nervous habit.
Leadford had escaped two days earlier from a Michigan prison. He was captured the evening of Hamley’s death.