FLOYD -- After fatally shooting a man last year, Joshua Hairston fled to Martinsville, near his hometown, because he thought his trial would be held wherever he was arrested, he told a judge Tuesday.

The 19-year-old Bassett man said he didn't think he could get a fair trial in Floyd County for the killing of Sean Michael Neumann. Hairston is black; Neumann was white.

"This belief was reinforced when I was convicted of second-degree murder," he said, reading handwritten notes from the witness stand.

A jury convicted Hairston in May and recommended he spend 40 years in prison -- 37 years on the murder conviction and three for using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs upheld that recommendation at Hairston's sentencing hearing Tuesday in Floyd County Circuit Court.

"It's not right," said Hairston's mother, Toni Hairston.

Neumann, 39, was shot four times the night of June 5, 2008, at his home in Check during a drug deal gone awry. Hairston was a drug dealer and Neumann was a regular customer.

Hairston has testified that he shot Neumann in self-defense. Testimony during Hairston's trial revealed that Neumann pulled a kitchen knife on a friend of Hairston's who was also at the house. Hairston claimed that Neumann also came after him and that he shot at the floor to try to scare Neumann away, but Neumann continued toward him.

He was charged with first-degree murder, but a jury apparently found that the killing was not premeditated. The jury had the options of convicting Hairston of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter, or finding him not guilty.

He said Tuesday that he wondered if Neumann would have faced the same charges had he killed Hairston.

Neumann's family members didn't testify Tuesday and left quietly after the hearing.

They submitted victim impact statements for the court to consider, Floyd County Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Shortt said.

While he was on the witness stand, Hairston turned to Neumann's family and apologized to them.

"I want to say to the Neumann family that I'm so sorry of your loss," he told them. He said he wouldn't wish the loss of a child upon anyone.

Hairston has two daughters. A third died as an infant in 2006.

Hairston's mother, grandmother and father also testified, asking that he be given a chance at life.

Hairston had admitted during his trial that while he was a high school student, he sold cocaine on weekends.

Asked by Hairston's attorney, Harrison Schroeder, if she thought her son would return to that lifestyle, Hairston's mother quickly said no.

"This has changed Joshua's life forever," Toni Hairston said. If given the opportunity, she said, "he will become the father that he wants to be, the man that he needs to be."

With a conviction of second-degree murder, Hairston faced a sentence of five to 40 years. A report prepared by a probation officer offered guidelines that called for a sentencing range with a midpoint of 17 years, but it is rare for a judge not to impose a jury's recommendation.

Hairston faces a charge in Pulaski County Circuit Court of possessing a knife as an inmate at the New River Valley Regional Jail in September. He is scheduled to enter a plea next week.