photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Howard Collins Levite testifies at his trial on Feb. 14, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

A Leavenworth man was sentenced to over three years in prison on Wednesday in connection with a shooting at a Lawrence McDonald’s in 2019.

The man, Howard Collins Levite, 32, pleaded no contest in May to one felony count of attempted aggravated battery in connection with an incident around 6 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2019, in the parking lot of McDonalds, 1309 W. Sixth St., where Levite shot then 51-year-old James Beltch during a botched drug deal, as the Journal-World reported.

Levite had been acquitted of attempted first-degree murder in February in connection with the shooting but the Douglas County jury was hung on the alternative count of second-degree murder and an additional count of attempted robbery.

Beltch had testified at trial that Levite had pulled a pistol during the drug deal and pulled the trigger twice but the gun jammed the first time while the second shot hit him in the stomach. Levite had testified he acted in self-defense after Beltch had pulled out a knife during the deal and wouldn’t let him leave the car, as the Journal-World reported.

Collins was scheduled to be retried on the hung counts in May but entered into a plea agreement instead that dismissed the second degree murder and attempted robbery charges and instead charged him with attempted aggravated battery.

On Wednesday, Judge Sally Pokorny sentenced Levite to 40 months in prison, or 3.3 years. Levite has been serving a 68 month, or 5.6 year, prison sentence in federal custody after a 2021 conviction in the U.S. District Court of Missouri where he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and intent to distribute Xanax.

He has additional convictions in Douglas County in 2010 for robbery and burglary, and felony drug convictions in Leavenworth County in 2012 and Wyandotte County in 2016, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.