Inmate gets max term in Pa. guard's manslaughter

MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) — An inmate has been sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison — the maximum possible sentence — for involuntary manslaughter in the death of a northwestern Pennsylvania county jail guard last year.

The Meadville Tribune reports 25-year-old Gregory Brown, of Meadville, was sentenced Monday by a Crawford County judge. He was convicted in October in the death of 49-year-old Crawford County guard Gary Chapin. A jury rejected the district attorney’s claims that Brown purposely slammed Chapin onto his head during a fight on Oct. 13, 2010, in refusing to convict Brown of third-degree murder, which carried up to 40 years in prison.

Chapin died from his injuries Nov. 15, 2010.

Brown claimed he and the guard merely tripped and that he never intended to kill Chapin. He apologized to Chapin’s widow, Janis, at Monday’s sentencing.