David Carson Edwards, the New London man who shot a 27-year-old man after a fight in the early morning hours of April 2, 2018, will serve 40 years in prison.

New London Superior Court Judge Hillary Strackbein sentenced Edwards, 43, on Monday. He had accepted a plea deal in March before a trial began and pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.

As part of an Alford plea, a defendant does not agree with all of the prosecution’s allegations but does not want to risk a harsher sentence at trial.

Edwards has been charged by New London Police with murder in the death of Joshua Fine, 27, in a shooting that occurred during a scuffle near the American Legion on Garfield Avenue in New London. A police investigation determined the two had an argument over a comment Edwards made to Fine’s girlfriend at the American Legion earlier that night.

After leaving the American Legion, the two men met at the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Elm Street. Edwards brought a gun and shot Fine in the chest. The shooting was reported at 1:04 a.m. Edwards was on probation at the time of the incident and had previous convictions for first-degree assault, possession of narcotics and interfering with police.