GALLIPOLIS — Daries D. Pemberton was sentenced to serve 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to three charges in Gallia County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday.

Pemberton, 31, Willow Wood, withdrew his former not guilty plea and pled guilty to counts five, six, and seven of his indictment, being two counts of felonious assault and one count of abduction.

He was initially charged with two counts of attempted aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, two counts of felonious assault, and one charge of abduction, stemming from an incident that occurred on Jan. 4 in which he shot Tammy J. Christian and her father, Victor Hayslip, both of Patriot.

In court Tuesday, Pemberton admitted to using Hayslip’s shotgun to shoot him two times, once in the arm and once in the cheek. He then went across the street to Christian’s home, took her inside the home, and tried to forcer her into a back bedroom. When she put up a fight, he shot her in the leg, the bullet passing through one leg and into the other. He then barricaded both of them in the back bedroom until police arrived and contained the situation.

Pemberton entered into a plea agreement with the State of Ohio that dropped counts one through four of the indictment if he pled guilty to counts five, six, and seven. The court honored the agreement and he was sentenced to the maximum of eight years per counts five and six, felonious assault. Because those charges carried a gun specification, an extra three years per charge was added to the sentence. Finally, Pemberton was ordered to serve one year for count seven, abduction, for a total of 23 years to be served consecutively.

By entering a guilty plea, Pemberton waived his jury trial and gave up his right to an appeal.

Before sentencing both victims were given an opportunity to speak. Both told Pemberton that they forgave him because they knew he was going to have to live with what he’d done.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t listen to me that day when you did what you did,” Hayslip said. “I treated you like a son,” he went on, “but I do forgive you.”

“Like my dad I’m going to forgive you because you’re going to have to live with this for the rest of your life,” Christian said. “I don’t know what possessed you to do this, but you scared the hell out of me, you scared my kids; this has scarred them.”

In response, a tearful Pemberton thanked them for forgiving him. He maintained that the shooting should never have happened and called the victims, “the two nicest people.”

Pemberton’s attorney, John Lentes, stated that Pemberton is very remorseful for what happened and doesn’t really know what happened out there. He said that up to the time of the shooting Pemberton had been a law-abiding citizen, but that on that day he snapped.

“The state, defense counsel, and the victims have all spent a lot of time on this case and even though he’s sorry and remorseful and they’ve forgiven him, the victims still have problems from the shootings,” said Gallia County Prosecutor Jeff Adkins.

He said he agreed with the plea deal and asked for 23 years in total. It was the order and judgment of the court to sentence Pemberton to 11 years for each count of felonious assault and one year for abduction. Each charge can also carry up to three years of post release control.