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3.5 years in prison for Arivaca man who gunned down neighbor

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An Arivaca man who pleaded no contest to shooting a neighbor to death was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison Tuesday by Judge John Leonardo of Pima County Superior Court.

Parley Edward Nielson, 64, was indicted on a single count of first-degree murder in June 2007 — nearly one year after Donnie Sheets, 41, was found outside his home near Arivaca Ranch and Hardscrabble roads.

Authorities believe Nielson shot Sheets with a shotgun because Sheets wrote Nielson's wife an $800 check for tires and rims and the check bounced, said Deputy Pima County Attorney Mark Diebolt.

Witnesses would have testified they heard Nielson say he was going to "take care" of Sheets, but there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, Diebolt said.

In addition, no weapon was ever found, so authorities had no ballistics evidence linking Nielson to the shooting, Diebolt said.

Because of those problems, Nielson was permitted to plead no contest to negligent homicide as part of a deal that stipulated a prison sentence of between one year and 3.75 years in prison.

During the sentencing hearing Tuesday, Sheets' wife, Rebecca, and their two sons spoke about how devastated they continue to be.

She and her husband had been together 23 years and he was her best friend, Sheets said.

The boys described their father as someone who always supported them and was thought of as a second dad by their friends.

Rebecca Sheets heard the shot that took her husband's life that day, but attributed it to target practice, she said.

When she went outside to have a cigarette, she heard people yelling for help beyond her fence and she called 911.

It was only after she got to the fence that she realized a friend was performing CPR on her husband, Sheets said.

She gathered herself together to help her friend, "but when I looked in his eyes I knew it was too late," she said.

Nielson and his attorney, David Darby, declined to speak Tuesday when given the option.