A 45-year-old Hancock man was sentenced in Anne Arundel Circuit Court yesterday to eight years in prison, five of them suspended, for accidentally killing his brother as they played with a gun.
George S. Lockwood of the 14000 block of Tollgate Road was convicted by a jury Sept. 26 of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the Jan. 22, 1994, shooting death of Eugene Lockwood, 50, of Deale.
Lockwood, a former laborer for a sprinkler installation company, was sentenced by Judge Warren B. Duckett Jr.
According to testimony in the trial, the defendant took a .44-caliber Magnum from a bedroom of his girlfriend's house in the 5900 block of Second St. in Deale and playfully put it to his brother's head as they were sitting around the dining-room table talking and drinking.
Lockwood admitted that the hammer cocked and that he jokingly said to his brother, "This is the most powerful handgun in the world, and it will blow your head all over the wall. Do you want me to pull the trigger?"
He shot his brother once in the abdomen as he pulled the weapon away, according to testimony.
Eugene Lockwood died eight days later at Prince George's County Hospital Center.
Lockwood told Judge Duckett yesterday that he loved his brother as much as anyone.
His comments came shortly after testimony from his niece -- the victim's 16-year-old daughter -- who broke into tears as she read a letter to the judge describing how much she missed her father.
"My father was always there for me when I needed him," she told Judge Duckett.
The judge said Lockwood's criminal record, coupled with the jury's verdict, mandated some time behind bars.
"I pride myself on being a hunter," Judge Duckett said. "And I would never consume alcoholic beverages with a weapon anywhere near me. That's just good common sense."
Lockwood's record includes seven convictions for offenses ranging from burglary and theft to battery and assault.
Assistant Public Defender Carroll McCabe said his client was so devastated by the incident that when a police officer approached him a few hours after the shooting, the officer found him "curled up in a fetal position . . . staring at his brother's blood on his hands, saying, 'Help my brother, help my brother.'
"You couldn't do anything to punish this man more than he will punish himself for the rest of his life," Ms. McCabe told Judge Duckett.
Assistant State's Attorney Nancy Harford emphasized that Lockwood had been drinking heavily when he put the gun to his brother's head.
That, she said, clearly showed "a reckless disregard for human life."
"You have to send a message, a strong message, to the community," she said. "You have to say that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated."