JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Phillip Beale Sr. confers with his attorney Jimmy Turk after being sentenced Friday in Radford Circuit Court for voluntary manslaughter in the death of Floyd Wright Jr.

RADFORD -- The father of a man convicted last week of first-degree murder was released from jail Friday after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the same killing.

Phillip Eugene Beale Sr., 44, was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony just days after Floyd Wilfred-Linn Wright Jr., 33, of Christiansburg was fatally shot in front of Beale's Calhoun Street home in April 2009.

But at a hearing Friday in Radford Circuit Court, Radford Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak reduced the murder charge to voluntary manslaughter as a principal in the second degree and the firearm charge to obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor.

Beale Sr. pleaded guilty to both. Under a written plea agreement, Circuit Court Judge Joey Showalter sentenced him to 10 years in prison for manslaughter and 12 months in jail for obstruction of justice, to run concurrently. He suspended eight years and eight months, leaving 16 months for Beale Sr. to serve.

He has been in jail since the shooting and has already served that time.

His attorney, Jimmy Turk, said Beale Sr. was released after the hearing. He said he thought Beale Sr. was relieved.

"Things for him have gone very, very favorably," Turk said.

Beale Sr. will spend two years on supervised probation. He was also fined $1,500.

Until earlier this week, Beale Sr. had been scheduled for a three-day jury trial in late October.

Beale Jr.'s conviction made that trial unnecessary, Rehak said after Friday's hearing.

"The guilty plea avoids another trial and will allow focusing our limited resources on other cases," he said.

He said Wright's family was aware of the plea agreement.

Both Beale Sr. and his son, Phillip Eugene Beale Jr., were present when Wright was shot the night of April 2, 2009. The question of who pulled the trigger was left unanswered until last week, when Showalter found Beale Jr. guilty of first-degree murder -- determining that Beale Jr. was the triggerman.

Beale Sr. didn't testify during his son's trial and declined the chance to speak Friday.

Turk said it was difficult for Beale Sr. not to speak when called by his son's defense attorney to testify. Turk had advised him not to.

"I do think it was the right call," Turk said.

Asked about the circumstances around the shooting, Turk said, "I honestly just don't know what happened."

Beale Sr. told police several times that he pulled the trigger. In fact, his most recent statement to police in May was that he killed Wright.

But police said Beale Sr. was covering for his son. And, at Beale Jr.'s trial, two women testified they saw Beale Jr. shoot Wright.

Keocesha Beale, Beale Sr.'s daughter, was the only family member present in the courtroom Friday.

Afterward, she said the outcome was "bittersweet." She was happy for her father, she said, but sad for her brother.

Beale Jr. has not yet been sentenced in the case but faces up to life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November.