INDIANAPOLIS – An Indianapolis man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for neglect after his 5-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his younger sister with their father's semiautomatic handgun.
A judge said Thursday that 27-year-old James Michael Booher should have placed the gun in a safer place since the boy had taken the gun from atop a refrigerator and shot a bullet into a kitchen cabinet eight months before.
Four-year-old Makayla Booher was shot in the head in May 2008. Authorities said her brother had taken the gun from the top shelf of a bookcase.
Defense attorney Jane Ruemmele disagreed with the sentence, noting Booher still is grieving.
The judge also barred Booher from seeing the boy while he is on probation or from living with anyone younger than 18.
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