Joshua Rogers, 27, of Clinton, pled "no contest" Feb. 7 to avoid a possible prison sentence by entering a no contest plea for the 2010 shooting of East Feliciana Parish Sheriff Talmadge Bunch’s son, Bennett Bunch, 32.

Rogers entered the plea to an attempted second-degree battery charge shortly before his trial on an attempted second-degree murder count was to start before Judge George H. Ware Jr. of the 20th Judicial District Court.

Judge Ware sentenced Rogers to a suspended 30-month prison term and placed him on supervised probation for three years under the condition that he pay a $1,000 fine, court costs, serve two months of community service and submit to periodic drug testing, said District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla.

D’Aquilla said that the plea bargain was in the best interest of justice in Bunch's shooting who was wounded on Oct. 4, 2010, while driving on Plank Road in Clinton.