A Sioux Falls man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter after shooting his brother was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday.

Jeremy Eischens, 28, was sentenced by Judge Robin Houwman to 40 years in the state penitentiary with 25 years suspended. In September, Eischens pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter in the 2017 death of his brother, Brandon Eischens.

Jeremy was arrested in July 2017 after he brought Brandon to the emergency room with gunshot wounds. Jeremy maintained that he accidentally shot Brandon while setting the gun down on a counter. Police say Jeremy was drunk and high on marijuana at the time of the shooting.

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More than a dozen of the Eischens brothers' friends and family filled the courtroom at Jeremy's sentencing. Defense attorney Betsy Doyle argued that Jeremy and Brandon were best friends and that the shooting was "a horrible accident." She said that Jeremy realizes the role he played in his brother's death and that he has completed drug and alcohol treatment while in jail.

"He owes it to his brother to live a healthy, law-abiding life," Doyle said.

Doyle also played a video the family made, talking about Jeremy and Brandon and how close they were. Several family members and friends also read letters to the court, asking Judge Houwman to allow Jeremy to come home.

"I wake up every morning, praying it was just a nightmare," Daryl and Cindy Eischens, Jeremy's parents, wrote in their letter. "We've lost one son, and we cannot bear to lose another."

Deputy Minnehaha County State's Attorney Mark Joyce asked for the maximum 30 years in prison laid out in the terms of Eischens' plea agreement. He said that the case was unusual because both the victim and the perpetrator are from the same family.

Joyce stated that Jeremy was a drug dealer and that he kept the gun for protection in his dealing. He also said that Jeremy initially lied about how Brandon was shot, saying he was injured in a drive-by shooting.

The Division of Criminal Investigation found that Brandon was shot twice on different parts of his body at different angles, Joyce said, casting doubt on whether the shooting was truly accidental.

"There is significant evidence to suggest that this was not an accident," Joyce said.

But Doyle said none of the witnesses reported hearing more than one shot, and that they supported Jeremy's version of events.

Jeremy also spoke on his own behalf, saying he wanted to be allowed to be there for his young son.

"This is the most traumatic thing that has ever happened to me," he said.

In her sentencing, Judge Houwman said that the Eischens' family's focus from the beginning has been to save Jeremy. She expressed doubt that the shooting could have been an accident due to the evidence, and stated that Jeremy's drug-dealing and use of alcohol contributed to his brother's death.

"I don't think a sober Jeremy would have done any of the things that happened that night," Houwman said.

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