ROCKY MOUNT -- A Callaway man received a 10-year prison sentence Friday for his role in a November 2006 confrontation that left a man dead.

But Franklin County Circuit Court Judge William Alexander left open the possibility that he might modify David Wayne Yopp's sentence if he cooperates with prosecutors in the murder case arising from the altercation.

On Nov. 5. 2006, Yopp and Alonza Durwood Smith went to the home of Jake Russell Hairston and Hairston's brother-in-law George Junior Davis. Smith and Yopp intended to confront Hairston over threats he had made toward Smith's family, Franklin County authorities said.

According to court evidence, Yopp held a gun on Davis to prevent him from moving while Smith shot Hairston through the neck. As Davis lay on the floor, Yopp shot a round right next to his head to scare him.

Hairston died of the neck wound. Alexander told Yopp at Friday's hearing that in his view, Yopp had prevented Davis from giving Hairston aid.

Smith, 38, is charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a felony but has been found incompetent to stand trial. Alexander has ordered him transported to Central State Hospital in Petersburg to be restored to competency.

Yopp, 40, had intended to testify in Smith's trial, but since the trial has been postponed indefinitely, Yopp's case had to move forward, defense attorney Seth Weston said.

On Sept. 24, prosecutors dropped a charge of attempted malicious wounding against Yopp in exchange for his guilty plea to shooting into an occupied dwelling. Alexander gave him the maximum punishment for that charge but said he would consider modifying it based on whether Yopp cooperates in Smith's trial.

"You got a sweetheart deal," the judge told Yopp. "You could just as easily be charged as an accessory to the murder."