Poplar Bluff man gets 15 years for fatal shooting

A judge sentenced a Poplar Bluff, Mo., man to 15 years in prison Monday for the 2011 shooting death of 29-year-old Marcus McFarland.

Paris Thomas originally faced charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm, but in September, prosecutors reduced the charges to voluntary manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm in exchange for Thomas' guilty plea.

At the time, Thomas told Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge William Syler he shot McFarland because they were arguing over a woman.

Thomas, whose case was in Cape Girardeau County on a change of venue from Butler County, faced up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and five years on the possession charge.

Syler sentenced Thomas to the maximum on both charges, with the sentences to run concurrently, meaning the most he will serve is 15 years.

In court, McFarland's mother, Marie Jordan, asked Syler to run Thomas' sentences consecutively.

"It's time to think about not doing this again," she said, suggesting Thomas needed to stay in prison "long enough to grow up and think about whose lives is at stake."

McFarland's sister Lakesha Moss also spoke in court Monday.

"He took the plea, but my brother's still not going to be here," Moss said. " ... Fifteen years should not be the maximum of what he should get."

Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Barbour said Thomas' behavior was symptomatic of a larger problem with gun violence among young men.

"If this had happened when I was a kid, somebody would have gotten a broken nose," Barbour said. " ... I don't know what the mentality is, but they think of shooting somebody like I think of hitting somebody in the nose. ... It's tearing up families and tearing up communities all over our part of the country."

In asking for leniency, Thomas' attorney, Steve Lynxwiler, said his client had a history of drug problems and was under the influence of drugs at the time of the killing.

"The situation with me: I was doing drugs I never, ever experimented with before," Thomas said in court Monday.

Unfamiliar chemicals and the emotional stress of what Thomas characterized as "relationship problems" led him to act in an uncharacteristic manner, he said.

"I didn't know what I was doing. I was so mad, I didn't ... actually think about anything. It just happened," Thomas said, adding that since the shooting, he has made an effort to control his temper and avoid fights.

"I'm not trying to put anybody in this situation again," he said.

Thomas apologized to McFarland's family.

"I want to say I apologize for y'all's loss," he said. "I made a mistake. ... I was put in the situation that I just didn't know how to handle myself."

Thomas said the shooting haunts him.

"I dream about it. I think about it," he said.

Jordan and Moss appeared unimpressed.

"This wasn't right, because it was premeditated. He knew what he was going to do," Moss said Monday after the sentencing.

She said Thomas' comments about "relationship problems" confirmed his motive.

"That's just telling you what he went to do it for," Moss said.

Jordan said she would have been satisfied with a 25-year sentence for the man who deprived three children of their father.

Jordan said McFarland was a devoted father to his two sons, now ages 8 and 11, and daughter, now 2.

"He used to take them to all their games," she said. "He wasn't here to see his daughter walk."

epriddy@semissourian.com

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