Man sentenced to probation after fight with neighbor results in death

It began as a fight between drunk neighbors in the early morning hours of Christmas Day 2008, but the two men who tried to make peace became the victim and the defendant in the murder case.

John Stewart McCallum, 50, was shot and killed in the 9700 block of Running Rabbit Street, near El Capitan Way and Iron Mountain Road.

On Wednesday, Edward Jones, 26, was sentenced to five years of probation. Jones pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter. As part of the deal, prosecutors did not recommend a sentence to Judge Elissa Cadish.

Jones was charged with murder with a deadly weapon, but prosecutors thought the circumstances that led to McCallum's death fit the definition of voluntary manslaughter.

Court records indicate the fight was instigated by McCallum's 18-year-old son, who was drunk. Jones' in-laws, also drunk, confronted the teen, who was yelling racial epithets, according to court records.

As McCallum tried to pull his son away from the fight, Jones' mother-in-law was struck in the face. Jones' family members said McCallum was the one who punched her, according to court records.

Jones tried to scare McCallum, a bodybuilder, and fired a shot from a
9 mm handgun, aiming at the man's buttocks. But Jones aimed high and shot McCallum in the back. The wound proved fatal.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors said the case was the result of a lot of bad choices on the part of both families.