Former Army Sergeant Sentenced to 28 years in Prison for Killing Fellow Soldier

A former Army sergeant was sentenced Monday to 28 years in prison for killing his roommate, a fellow soldier who had just returned from three tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Gary James Smith, 29, had been convicted in September of involuntary manslaughter and using a handgun in the commission of a crime for killing 22-year-old Michael Anthony McQueen the Second.

It was Smith's second trial for the shooting. He had been found guilty of second-degree murder in 2008, but Maryland's highest court reversed the decision, saying that critical information about McQueen's mental state had not been allowed into evidence.

Monday, Smith was sentenced to 10 years on the manslaughter charge and 18 years for the handgun charge.

"It has often been said that justice delayed is justice denied. Today, despite delays, there was no denying justice," Montgomery County Judge Eric Johnson said.

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