SAN DIEGO : Sailor Sentenced in Wife’s Shooting

A sailor who said he accidentally shot and killed his wife a week after they were married was sentenced Monday to a 180-day jail term, which he has already served.

Calling the case “heart-wrenching,” after hearing the victim’s father urge mercy for his son-in-law, San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Hayes placed Shawn Patrick Walker, 24, on three years’ probation.

Walker had been charged with murder in the Nov. 17 slaying of Marilyn Walker, 19, in their Golden Hill home but pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Feb. 10. According to attorneys, Shawn Walker was playing with a loaded firearm while drinking and shot his wife while she was preparing a meal in the kitchen.

Walker, who cried after hearing the judge order his release from jail, could have received a four-year term in state prison.

Walker’s father-in-law, Thomas Bowles, told Hayes he had served with Walker in the Navy for five years. “I don’t believe he shot my daughter purposely,” Bowles said. “I don’t believe it would do any good to send him to prison. I think it would do more harm.”