A Charleston man, who was facing a murder charge in the 2015 shooting death of his uncle's girlfriend, pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter and said the killing was a tragic accident.
"I thought for sure it was him," 31-year-old Matthew Roohollahi said Wednesday about his sister's ex-boyfriend, Jonathan Bush.
Bush, 33, of South Charleston, fired several rounds of gunshots at the Roohollahis' home on the November 2015 day Roohollahi shot his uncle's girlfriend, Andrena Smith. Bush pleaded guilty in April to four counts of wanton endangerment.
When Roohollahi shot 22-year-old Smith through his front door, he said Wednesday that he feared for the lives of his family members because of Bush. Smith was struck in the chest and killed.
Roohollahi's lawyer, Jesse Forbes, told Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King on Wednesday that his client had been under a great deal of stress at the time he fired the fatal shot.
Prosecutors charged Roohollahi with first-degree murder, claiming he was "lying in wait" at the top of his staircase and pointing a gun at the front door.
King said during Wednesday's hearing that the circumstances surrounding the case wouldn't support a murder conviction. He sentenced Roohollahi to a year, which the judge noted Roohollahi had already served either in jail or on home confinement.
Prosecutors didn't object when King allowed Roohollahi to await a possible trial on home confinement. Roohollahi is a law school graduate and previously served as an intern with the Kanawha Public Defender's office.
Smith went to the Roohollahis' house on Lakin Street at about 1 a.m. to check on her boyfriend's relatives after hearing someone had shot at the home, police said at the time.
Roohollahi's sister, Omani Roohollahi, had recently ended a relationship with Bush, police said at the time.
Roohollahi called Kanawha Metro 911 dispatchers to report that Bush had shot at his house. He eventually handed the phone to his sister, who continued to tell dispatchers about Bush.
While she was on the phone with dispatchers, a gunshot was heard, according to a criminal complaint filed against Roohollahi. Omani Roohollahi then told the dispatcher that Smith had been shot outside the home.
Police filed wanton endangerment charges against Bush on the day of Smith's death. Both Bush and Roohollahi were indicted by a Kanawha grand jury this year.
Assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers said Wednesday that the shooting of Smith was an extreme lack of judgment by Roohollahi. The Roohollahis' front door had a small window, but Akers added Roohollahi couldn't have seen who was on the other side of it. That played a role in prosecutors' decision to allow the misdemeanor charge to replace the murder allegations.
"Jurors would think, 'What would I do?'" Akers said.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.