A Gary man was sentenced to 19 years in the Indiana Department of Correction Friday after signing a plea deal for killing a neighbor’s friend.

Lamar Golston, 62, pleaded guilty in October to voluntary manslaughter. He faced 10 to 30 years. He said he would appeal.

Golston shot Curtis Burnside, 51, of the 1500 block of East 43rd Avenue, outside his home Sept. 8, 2022, in Gary’s Glen Park neighborhood.

Defense lawyer Kirk Marrie said Friday that Golston was provoked. Court records indicated there were ongoing issues between Golston and the neighbor.

The lawyer said Golston spent 20 years in prison for a 1983 military rape conviction, but after his release had a clean record until the shooting. He asked for a split prison term.

Any significant prison term “could be a life sentence,” Marrie said.

Burnside had only been staying there for three days and had no connection to the neighborhood, Deputy Prosecutor Jovanni Miramontes said. The plea was a “compromise,” because they couldn’t find the two witnesses. That day, a spat was partly started by the neighbor, he said.

Burnside was “unarmed” and “executed,” he said. He asked for 20 years.

“I understand there isn’t anything I could say to ease the pain and suffering I caused,” Golston said in court. The shooting “just happened.”

“I still can’t believe it happened myself,” he said to Burnside’s family. “I am so sorry for your loss.”

Judge Salvador Vasquez said they had to balance Golston’s fate against the fact that someone died. A 30-year sentence was not “appropriate.”

Around 12:11 p.m., Gary police were sent to the 4100 block of Buchanan Street in reference to a person who suffered gunshot wounds, according to the news release.

Police went inside the residence and found Burnside, who had multiple gunshot wounds to his body and did not appear to be breathing, according to the release. The Gary Fire Department arrived on scene and checked his vital signs, the release stated.

Officers began to secure the crime scene and contacted the Lake County Crime Lab, the Lake County Coroners Office and the Gary/Lake County Metro Homicide Unit, according to the news release.

Witnesses told police they were outside smoking when a neighbor and a man one witness didn’t know — later identified as Golston, who lived on the block — asked for Burnside, who was inside sleeping. When Burnside came out, the talk turned into an “argument” before gunshots rang out. They had argued before, according to court documents.

Burnside came into the residence bleeding from gunshot wounds and collapsed on the floor, the release stated, and a dog was also grazed in left side behind its left front leg, according to a police news release.

mcolias@post-trib.com