"I wish I would have never came to Gainesville," said Colton Fears, who was sentenced to five years in prison. "Everything that happened that day is a regret.”

Colton Fears, the getaway driver for the man who shot at a protester after a Gainesville speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer, was poised to get out of jail with credit for time served.

The prosecutor and defense attorney both wanted it. Fears, 30, had only a minor part in the crime and no longer expressed white nationalist views, they said, and his willingness to testify against the shooter, Texas white nationalist Tyler Tenbrink, also merited consideration.

But Monday morning in Gainesville, Circuit Judge James Colaw just couldn't get past Fears' participation in a crime "intended to scare, threaten or harm." Colaw sentenced him to five years in prison.

The Texas native was sentenced for his role in an Oct. 19, 2017, shooting, in which no one was injured, following Spencer's speaking event at the University of Florida.

Fears, who pleaded guilty in August, receives credit for 515 days in jail. He was charged initially with attempted first-degree murder, but that was reduced to accessory after the fact to attempted first-degree murder after he agreed to testify against Tenbrink.

Police say Tenbrink was the one who shot at the protester. He pleaded no contest to charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was sentenced on Feb. 27 to 15 years in prison.

Fears was the getaway driver after his brother, William, riled up a crowd of protesters by cheering Adolf Hitler and Tenbrink fired the shot. Fears drove a Jeep from the crime scene, for which he showed remorse in court Monday.

“I am embarrassed to be entangled in your court system, your Honor,” Fears said. “I wish I would have never came to Gainesville. Everything that happened that day is a regret.”

Prosecution and defense attorneys agreed that a time-served sentence of 17 month would be appropriate. Assistant State Attorney George Wright and Fears’ attorney, Lucas Taylor, said they believed Fears no longer expressed the white nationalist views of his brother and Tenbrink. The lawyers said witness testimony corroborated a claim by Fears that he never got out of the vehicle during the shooting and noted that, as the driver, he was a “minor participant” in the crime.

His participation as a witness also led prosecutors to recommend the sentence of time served.

However, Colaw said he couldn’t get past Fears’ participation as the driver, stating Fears was “not a young man” when the shooting happened and knew it was a crime to leave the scene.

The judge said he entered the day with the idea of sentencing Fears a term in the “double digits.” But after hearing both both sides argue for a 17-month sentence and hearing Fears’ statement to the court, Colaw said, he decided on a sentence of five years in prison — two years more than the minimum sentence of three years for accessory to first-degree murder.

“(The Fears brothers and Tenbrink) intended to scare, threaten or harm people,” Colaw said. “I am persuaded in part that (a double-digit sentence) is not appropriate. But I just can’t get there.”

As Fears was sentenced, his mother cried. Later, after leaving the courtroom, she collapsed, sobbing, on a bench. Fears showed little emotion as he left the courtroom.

He had hoped, according to his statement to the court, to be released from jail and return to Texas to work in the oil fields, as he had done for the 10 years prior to being arrested.

Fears said he no longer expressed white nationalist views held by Tenbrink and his brother and that his 17 months in the Alachua County jail had changed him. He apologized to the victim in the case and “the entire city of Gainesville.

“This has destroyed my life. It’s time to put this in my past and move forward,” Fears said. “I am not the monster the media has labeled me.”

Instead of being released, he will serve at least three more years in prison.