ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) – For nearly two years, the question had confounded the justice system: What to do with a novice hunter who killed a farmer when he shot at a tractor he thought was unoccupied?

A judge answered it Friday, sentencing Collin Viens, 20, of Georgia, to one to five years despite calls by members of the victim’s family to spare him jail time.

Viens could serve as little as nine months for the Nov. 23, 2005, death of Rejean Lussier, 60, of St. Albans, according to Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes.

“Collin will have an interruption in his life, but he has altered ours forever,” said Bonnie Lussier, his widow. “We will be heartbroken and lonely for the rest of our lives.”

Lussier was shot once through the chest as he sat in his tractor. Viens, who fired the shot, didn’t know he had hit anyone and lied to police when he came forward, saying he was trying to shoot a coyote. He later admitted firing on the tractor as he played with the rifle.

Charged with manslaughter, Viens went to trial, only to have a jury deadlock on whether to hold him responsible. After that, his lawyers and Hughes reached a plea agreement calling for a suspended prison term, but Judge Ben Joseph rejected it because it didn’t mandate incarceration.

The second trial was moved to Burlington, where a jury convicted Viens of involuntary manslaughter Aug. 10.

He faced up to 15 years in prison at the sentencing, which was held before a courtroom packed with relatives and friends of both Lussier and Viens.

Two of his high school teachers vouched for Viens, a clinical psychologist described him as “pro-social” and an unlikely risk to commit another crime and his parents testified about his anguish over Lussier’s death. One of his lawyers read excerpts from letters written by two of Lussier’s sisters who said Viens didn’t deserve prison.

Hughes didn’t recommend it, either. Viens sobbed as he stood before Joseph.

“I’m just so sorry for what has all happened. I just want to apologize to my family and the Lussiers and everybody who was involved,” he said.

Joseph wasn’t swayed. He noted that Viens killed a man and that he lied about it afterward. He described how Viens initially lied to Vermont State Police investigators and how he broke down in tears when he finally told the truth.

“At that moment and since then, the defendant’s principle concern has been about himself, not Mr. Lussier,” said Joseph.

“He showed he’s a good liar and willing to manipulate people to avoid punishment,” he said of Viens.

He said the killing wasn’t the result of a hunting accident, but the result of careless handling of a firearm.

He recommended that Viens serve his time in a state Department of Corrections work camp, even though Viens’ lawyers and Hughes said it was their understanding the camp is for nonviolent offenders, a category Viens can’t claim.

Rob Hofmann, the state corrections commissioner, said it was unlikely Viens would find a spot in the 100-bed program, which is located in St. Johnsbury.

“It’s nearly unprecedented” to place someone convicted of a violent crime there, he said. “It’s extraordinarily unusual that we would put a violent offender in there. I would want to confer with the judge and the prosecutor and the defense and the victims,” said Hofmann.

Lussier’s widow and other family members declined comment on the sentence after the hearing.

Hughes, calling the killing “more tragic than criminal,” said there were no winners in the prosecution.

“I don’t think I’d use the word “victory.”‘ said Hughes. “It’s a bitter but a positive outcome. We never argued that he intended to take a life. We always gave credit to what Collin said happened, that his chain of bad decisions – taking the safety off the rifle, putting his finger on the trigger, looking through the scope, targeting the tractor – led to today, essentially.”

AP-ES-11-09-07 1612EST