A Brookhaven man was found guilty of manslaughter and sentencedto a 20-year prison term Wednesday afternoon following a two-daytrial at the Lincoln County-Brookhaven Government Complex.

Robert “Dirty” Maxwell, 20, was convicted in the March 31, 2006shooting death of Wal-Mart Distribution Center employee Garland G.Rainy, then 23, at Lincoln Inn and Suites.

District Attorney Dee Bates said Maxwell, who is already servinga 13-year prison sentence for selling cocaine, left the courthouseWednesday bound for the Rankin County Jail, where the MississippiDepartment of Corrections will move him to either the MississippiState Penitentiary at Parchman or one of its satellite facilitiesfor his combined 33-year prison term.

Bates said the state tried Maxwell for murder. The DA saidMaxwell had confessed in a statement to authorities.

“We wanted murder,” he said. “We submitted the evidence to thejury; they deliberated for five hours and found the lesser verdictof manslaughter.”

Bill Goodwin, Maxwell’s attorney, said the jury listened to bothsides of the case and arrived at a “well thought-out decision.” Hesaid Bates presented a good case.

“The jury had a different perception of the case than the statedid,” Goodwin said.

While the decision will ultimately be his client’s, Goodwin wasunsure if an appeal would be pursued. The attorney, though, wasinclined against it.

“When you stand in front of a jury and admit manslaughter on thefront end and they agree with you, there’s not much to appeal,”Goodwin said.

After the conviction, Bates said the state was able to tagMaxwell as an “81 habitual” under Mississippi statute 99-19-81 -basically a “three strikes, you’re out” policy – resulting the20-year mandatory sentence. Per the rules of evidence, Bates saidMaxwell’s two prior convictions were not allowed for presentationto the jury.

Given the nature of the crime, the manslaughter verdict came asa disappointment for the Brookhaven Police Department, which hadsent Assistant Chief Nolan Jones and Capt. Bobby Bell to WalthallCounty, Louisiana and Chicago in search of witnesses during thelengthy investigation.

Discussing the case after the verdict was heard, Bell said the2006 shooting was the result of a botched robbery attempt. Maxwellhad noticed Rainy “had a good bit of money” at a party on the nightof the shooting, Bell said, and followed Rainy and his entourage tothe hotel.

Apparently, Maxwell observed Rainy alone outside the hoteltalking on a cell phone and then moved in for the robbery. Bellsaid Rainy turned and ran, and Maxwell shot him once in the lowerback at point-blank range with a sawed-off 12-guage shotgun loadedwith No. 5 shot.

“I can’t see how a man can be charged with manslaughter when heshoots another person in the back with the intent to rob thatperson,” Bell said. “But that’s what the jury came up with. Theonly thing we can do is present it as best we know how, and I can’tthink of anything different we could have done.”

Given the circumstance of the case, Bell said, a murder chargewas appropriate. The department, however, is satisfied with theirinvestigation and the presentation of the district attorney’soffice.

“We started out with nothing and ended up with a confession,” hesaid. “You can’t ask for no more than that.”