A man who shot and wounded Lady Gaga’s dog walker during a dog theft has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.
James Howard Jackson pleaded no contest – similar to a guilty plea – to attempted murder.
Ryan Fischer was walking the singer’s three French bulldogs in Hollywood in February 2021 when Jackson shot him in the chest, the court heard.
Mr Fischer said he had to have part of his lung removed after the attack.
He attended Monday’s court hearing and said the shooting had changed his life forever, CBS News reported.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office called the attack “a cold-hearted violent act”.
Several other charges Jackson faced were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Jackson and one of four other accomplices took two of the dogs, Koji and Gustav, following the shooting.
A third bulldog, Miss Asia, ran away and was later found by police.
At the time, police said that they thought the dogs were targeted because of their breed – and not because of who their owner was.
The two stolen dogs were returned unharmed two days later after Gaga offered a $500,000 (£359,000) reward.
One accomplice, Harold White, pleaded guilty on Monday to breaking the law that prevents former convicts from possessing firearms. He is due to be sentenced next year.
White’s son, Jaylin Keyshawn White, and Lafayette Shon Whaley both pleaded guilty last year to second-degree robbery and were sentenced to four and six years in prison respectively.
The person who returned the dogs, Jennifer McBride, was later charged with being an accessory to attempted murder and her case remains pending, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Jackson’s day in court was delayed after he was wrongly released from prison in April in what the US Marshals Service described at the time as a “clerical error”. He was re-arrested the same month.
Credit: bbc.com
