In a case we have followed since the beginning, the man charged with shooting and killing his friend outside the Freighthouse District in the summer of 2011 will avoid prison time after pleading guilty this morning to a charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Matthew Mahaffey appeared in court before Judge Janet Berry to enter his plea. He was charged in the shooting death of 22-year old Michael Boyle.
Mahaffey, an Iraq War veteran, had agreed to give Boyle a ride after a night out but when Boyle hopped in his truck, Mahaffey shot him at close range.
"They opened the door, unexepectedly, he reacted with that sudden impulse.... he did not know it was Michael Boyle," said Mahaffey's attorney Ken Mckenna.
Mahaffey was finally arrested six months later, following a News 4 Fact Finder investigation which raised questions about how the case was being handled.
Under the plea bargain, he won't go to prison. Instead he'll serve two months in the county jail and be on probation for five years.
