Man gets 3 to 16 years for Vegas casino shootings

A Nevada man was sentenced Friday to three to 16 years in state prison for shooting two people at a Las Vegas Strip casino last year after a scuffle.

Richard Earl Shepherd Jr., 35, maintained that he shot into an elevator lobby at the Caesars Palace resort in response to a fist fight he had with a man who insulted his sister as they left a nightclub and refused to make peace when he tried to shake his hand.

"He punches me first, and his friend who had nothing to do with it punches me," Shepherd said. He called the shooting "one of the stupidest things I ever did in my life."

"But I can't say I didn't do it," Shepherd said of the shooting captured on casino security videotape.

Shepherd pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and use of a deadly weapon.

The Aug. 4, 2007, shooting left 20-year-old Vance Davis wounded in the arm and 23-year-old Markael Ballou wounded in the leg.

Neither man was directly involved in the scuffle with Shepherd.

But Shepherd's lawyer, Scott Holper, told the judge that Davis and Ballou were part of a group who could be seen on videotapes harassing casino patrons.

The judge gave Shepherd credit for a year already served. He has been held on $250,000 bail.

Prosecutor Victoria Villegas called the sentence fair.