A former Garland officer received nine months' probation for killing an unarmed man when a police chase ended in a hail of gunfire five years ago.

Patrick Tuter (Dallas County Jail)

Originally charged with manslaughter, Patrick Wayne Tuter pleaded no contest Monday to a lesser count of discharging a firearm in certain municipalities, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in a county jail.

Tuter, 37, was accused of firing 41 shots at Michael Vincent Allen in August 2012 after a half-hour chase that reached speeds of 100 mph.

The officer —the only one to fire his weapon that night — reloaded at least twice, and three shots struck and killed 25-year-old Allen.

Prosecutors in Tuter's trial last year labeled him a "rogue cop" who "acted recklessly" in opening fire in a neighborhood cul-de-sac.

A Dallas County jury couldn't agree on a verdict on the manslaughter charge, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and the case ended in a mistrial. A second trial was set to start this week.

"It's been a nightmare," Allen's father, Randy, said last year. "We were really hoping for some closure."

He said his granddaughter remembers her father and prays to him every night.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody," he said.

The manslaughter indictment in 2013 was the first time in more than 15 years that a Dallas County grand jury indicted an officer in a fatal shooting.

Since then, Dallas County grand juries have indicted several officers, including fired Balch Springs Officer Roy Oliver, who shot and killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards in May.

When Tuter testified in his defense last year, he called the 2012 police chase an "intense situation."

After midnight on Aug. 31, 2012, Tuter spotted a white GMC pickup that had been involved in a chase with Sachse police two days earlier.

Michael Vincent Allen

Dashboard camera footage showed the driver of the GMC, later determined to be Allen, make an evasive turn at a red light. That's when the chase started. At times, Allen drove on the wrong side of the road and sped through several stoplights.

"Your adrenaline dumps, and you're shaking, and you have to remain calm," Tuter testified last year.

Tuter was fired from the Garland Police Department in 2013 after an internal investigation found he violated the department's pursuit and use-of-force policies.

Defense attorney Robert Rogers said during last year's trial that Tuter feared for his life because he thought Allen was reaching for something.

His fellow officers testified that they were more scared of Tuter than of the man they were chasing that night.

The case was handled by special prosecutor Juan Sanchez. State District Judge Tammy Kemp signed off on the plea agreement.