A man who eluded law enforcement officers for nine days after shooting a Virginia State Police trooper last year will spend at least five years in prison.

Steven Dale Branscome, 33, of Floyd County was scheduled for a jury trial Tuesday in Mercer County Circuit Court in Princeton, W.Va. Instead, he entered into a plea agreement Dec. 17, pleading guilty to one count of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of petit larceny, according to Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Ash.

As part of the agreement, other charges Branscome faced were dropped or reduced. A felony grand larceny charge was reduced to a misdemeanor petit larceny charge, Ash said. Charges of wanton endangerment and burglary were also dropped.

Branscome fired at Trooper Richard Hughes the afternoon of March 28, striking Hughes in the back of the neck. Hughes wasn't seriously injured and was back at work within days.

Hughes, a trooper assigned to Giles County, described at a preliminary hearing in May how Branscome shot at him as he and another officer attempted to serve a warrant on a man in Giles County in a matter unrelated to Branscome.

Branscome tried to strike two police cars with the car he was driving, police have said. He sped off and the troopers gave chase.

The pursuit crossed into West Virginia, where Branscome jumped out of the car, ran into the woods and shot at Hughes.

The larceny charges stem from a pickup truck and items Branscome took from a house while he was on the run.

He was captured April 6 in New Boston, Texas.

Ash said Branscome waived extradition, meaning authorities can bring him to Virginia to face charges here without going through a lengthy paperwork process.

He is likely to be charged in Giles, Floyd, Pulaski and Wythe counties as well as in Ashe County, N.C.

It remained unclear Thursday exactly what charges will be placed against Branscome in the Virginia counties because Branscome has not yet been served with warrants. He is still being held in the Southern Regional Jail in Charleston, W.Va.

Officials have said he will face charges in Wythe County in connection with burglaries and thefts at a home and business, in Pulaski County on a charge of communicating threats to kill someone and in Floyd County on a probation violation.

Branscome was charged first in West Virginia because he faced the most serious charges there.

Branscome was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison on the attempted murder conviction, Ash said, and one year on each petit larceny conviction.

Ash said Branscome will become eligible to request parole in West Virginia after serving five years -- three on the attempted murder charge and two on the larceny convictions.