A 25-year-old Lawrence man found guilty in January of attempted second-degree murder was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison.

Originally charged with attempted first-degree murder in the Memorial Day shooting on Highway 59 of Skylar Workman, 24, of Lawrence, Edward “E.J.” Parker pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in a plea deal with the state.

Brittany Smith, 22, and Edward Joseph “E.J.” Parker, 25.

The change in the charge lessened the amount of time Parker will serve for the crime, Douglas County District Judge Peggy Kittel said. If he had been convicted of the original charge, Parker could have been sentenced to 51 1/2 years in prison.

Kittel last month sentenced Parker’s co-defendant, Brittany Nicole Smith, to just over eight years in prison following her conviction on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Smith pleaded guilty in October in a plea deal that changed her original charge of attempted first-degree murder.

At Parker and Smith’s joint preliminary hearing in July, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jay Armbrister testified that Parker confessed to shooting Workman on May 26 after Smith allegedly coerced him.

Armbrister said Parker told him that on the day of the shooting, Smith asked him if he would help her get in touch with Workman, her ex-boyfriend, and Parker went to her apartment.

Armbrister told the court that Parker said Smith then gave him a handgun and said, “shoot (Workman) and get my phone back.”

Detective Scott Bonham of the sheriff’s office said at the preliminary hearing that Smith told him Workman had kept a cellphone of Smith’s since their breakup in 2013.

Armbrister said Parker then took the gun in search of Workman while Smith texted the two men, trying to get Workman’s location so Parker could find him.

After searching for about half an hour, Parker was about to give up when he spotted Workman’s truck ahead of him driving south on Iowa Street, Armbrister said. Armbrister testified that Parker said he then followed the truck onto U.S. 59, positioned his vehicle in the truck’s blind spot, and shot Workman.

At Parker’s sentencing hearing, he declined to make an apology or statement to encourage Kittel to be lenient with her sentence.

Workman suffered gunshot wounds to his abdomen but recovered following treatment at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka. As part of their sentences, Smith and Parker are ordered to pay Workman more than $123,000 in restitution for his medical bills.

Parker received credit for 263 days of time served toward his sentence. If Parker shows good behavior in prison, he could be released about two and a half years early. Upon release, he will have to register as a violent offender for 15 years.