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Jealous shooter avoids prison Peyton gets probation for firing at man who had affair with wife By CHRIS BRISTOL A former Trail man who took a couple of potshots at a romantic rival to put "the fear of God" into him apologized Thursday for the ambush attack and was sentenced to probation instead of prison. "I just want to say I messed up," Gary Peyton said in court. "I was hurt ... I'm sorry." A Jackson County jury last month convicted Peyton, 45, of four charges -- including menacing and two firearms felonies -- for the Aug. 14 sniper-style attack that occurred the day after Peyton found out his wife had been having an affair with his cousin. In doing so, the jury rejected more serious charges of attempted murder and assault. The prosecution said Peyton missed by accident, but Peyton testified that he missed on purpose and meant only to scare the man. Under Measure 11, attempted murder carries a mandatory sentence of seven years in prison. In court Thursday, prosecutor Matt McCauley urged trial judge Patricia Crain to sentence Peyton to five years in prison for unlawful use of a deadly weapon. "This is a person who uses weapons and violence to resolve his personal problems," McCauley said. "Anybody who uses firearms to settle personal problems is a menace to the community." But defense attorney Larry Roloff argued that his client, who served 180 days in jail before release to home detention, has been punished enough already and deserved another chance. Judge Crain agreed, citing Peyton's "diminished capacity" at the time of the shooting and his clean record on probation following a 1990 conviction for dealing drugs. The attack on his cousin involved no allegations of drug use. "I'm not sending you to prison," she said, opting for three years of supervised probation -- to the relief of Peyton and a large group of relatives and other supporters who attended the hearing. Among them was his now-former wife. Still, the judge rebuked Peyton for his behavior, which she called "erratic and like a 16-year-old." "I don't care what he did," she said, referring to the victim. "You had no right to shoot at him." Peyton freely admitted that he hid in the woods outside his cousin's house and, armed with a rifle equipped with a scope, squeezed off a couple of rounds when his cousin came out. The first shot kicked up dirt and gravel only a few feet from where the victim had been standing; the victim testified the second shot "whizzed by my head like a bottle rocket." Peyton fled after the victim ran back inside his house. He had grabbed a pistol from his car and returned fire, but ran out of ammunition after getting off only two shots of his own. In trial, the prosecution argued that Peyton meant to kill, having made several murderous threats after he heard about the affair, and missed only because of the difficulty of the shot from his concealed position in the heavy brush. An FBI sniper expert testified for the state. The defense countered that Peyton "missed" only because he meant to miss. "I was only trying to put the fear of God into him," Peyton testified at the time. In lieu of custody, Crain ordered Peyton to pay the victim a compensatory fine of $5,000 and an additional $7,000 in fines and assessments. She seized $10,000 Peyton's family posted for bail, and applied the money to the fines. "Who knows if it's adequate," she said of the compensatory fine. "But you need to put your money where your mouth is." Crain also ordered the forfeiture of Peyton's gun, a .308-caliber hunting rifle that apparently was a family heirloom. The victim, Terry Reese, was not in court and offered no statement through McCauley. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA