LR man gets year in ’18 death

A man charged with shooting and killing another man in 2018 using a gun he said he thought was an airsoft gun agreed to a plea deal Wednesday that will require him to serve a year in jail and attend a firearms safety class, court records indicated.

Patrick Bennett, 24, of Little Rock was charged in the death of Devan Sprawling, 20, also of Little Rock, in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, 2018, at a residence on Fair Park Boulevard.

Bennett told police at the time that he was holding what he thought was an airsoft gun — which fires small plastic pellets at relatively low velocities — when he pulled the trigger and shot Sprawling in the head.

Authorities on Dec. 3, 2018, charged Bennett with felony manslaughter, but a court document from the 7th Division Circuit Court dated to Wednesday showed he pleaded down to negligent homicide, a misdemeanor. The document indicated Bennett had no prior convictions.

Sentencing paperwork from Wednesday showed that Bennett was sentenced to serve a year in the Pulaski County jail and a one-month suspended sentence.

Bennett will also be responsible for attending a gun-safety course, work with a Little Rock violence-prevention program and pay a $100 fine, court liaison Tom Barnes said, although he had no details about the specifics of the additional terms of the plea deal past the jail sentence.

Bennett’s attorney, Patrick Benca, did not respond to a message left with his office Thursday afternoon seeking comment.

Bennett appeared in the Pulaski County jail’s online inmate roster Thursday evening.