After winning appeal, prisoner re-sentenced

An Oconee County man convicted of voluntary manslaughter five years ago and sent to prison for 15 years was re-sentenced today to ten years.  And it’s going to mean, according to one court officer, that Shane Adam Burdette will be allowed to get out of prison sooner.  And when he does, the court was told, Burdette will have a home and job to go to. In front of Judge Sprouse, Burdette today admitted that a pellet from a shotgun struck the fatal blow to James Evan Tyner.  Burdette said his intent was to scare Tyner off his property and did not mean to kill him.  Tyner’s father was in the courtroom, but chose not to address the court.  Burdette apologized repeatedly and told Judge Sprouse that in the years since Tyner’s death he has become a changed man and now wants to be a presence and a help in the lives of his two young sons. Burdette is 41, and Judge Sprouse predicted he will be young enough on release to make something good out of the rest of his life.  The case wound up in front of the 10th Circuit judge today from a successful appeal to a higher state court.