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HUNTSVILLE — In the end, Kenneth Cross is still guilty of fatally shooting 15-year-old Brandon Woodward. But the time he will serve for the crime will be significantly less.

That came as a result of an unusual and unexpected twist in the case in Criminal Court here Tuesday, when prosecutors introduced sworn statements from witnesses of the April 2005 shooting claiming that Woodward was armed with a handgun when he was shot by Cross. Cross ultimately pled no contest to voluntary manslaughter.

In April 2006, Cross was convicted of first degree murder in Woodward’s death. A jury of eight women and four men needed just two hours and 32 minutes to return a guilty verdict after hearing testimony from Woodward’s mother, Jeannie Burress, and friends Joseph Tyler Lowe and Brian Anderson, all of whom had witnessed the shooting and testified that Woodward was unarmed. Cross’s live-in girlfriend, Ruby Lowe, who also witnessed the shooting, claimed that Woodward had been armed and that Cross had shot in defense of his own life.

The shooting had occurred during an altercation between Burress and Lowe, who began fighting near the roadway between the Cross and Burress properties on Patton Lane near Norma.

Following the guilty verdict, Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton sentenced Cross to life in prison.

In December 2007, however, Sexton granted Cross a new trial, based on the recommendation of District Attorney General Wm. Paul Phillips, who cited a TBI investigation allegedly revealing possible perjury by one of the state’s witnesses in the original trial.

That new trial was to have begun Wednesday morning with jury selection. Instead, potential jurors were dismissed, and the new evidence was entered. Among the new evidence were written statements taken from Lowe and Anderson by TBI Special Agent Steve Vinsant. In the statements, both witnesses said that Woodward had a gun tucked into the back of his pants when he was shot.

Anderson stated that as Burress and Ruby Lowe fought by the road, he overheard Burress telling Woodward, “Go get a gun.” Woodward went to the Burress residence nearby and returned with a handgun tucked into the back of his pants, Anderson stated. As the man and teen argued, he stated, “Kenny hit Jeannie and then pointed the gun at Brandon and fired. Brandon took off running and Kenny shot him in the head.”

In his statement, Lowe said that Burress did not tell Woodward to retrieve the gun from the residence, “but he went to the house and came back with a pistol,” which he had tucked into the back of his pants. “He never pulled the gun,” Lowe stated. “I don’t know if Kenneth knew he had a gun, but Brandon told Kenneth, ‘Put your gun up and I’ll put mine up.’ I don’t remember Brandon doing anything, but Kenneth started shooting. I think he shot three times.”

Lowe stated that Burress had asked him to take the gun and “git rid of it,” and that he took it and “threw it behind Jeannie’s house.” Lowe said he had previously testified that Woodward was unarmed because “I was afraid Kenneth would get off scott-free.”

A statement was also introduced from Loretta Duncan, who told Agent Vinsant that Woodward had told her the day before the shooting that Cross had threatened to kill his sister, Meagan Burress, and that “the next time Kenny messes with my sister, I’ll shoot him.” But, she added, “he told me he didn’t have any bullets [for the gun].”

Under terms of the plea deal reached between the state and the defense, Cross agreed to be sentenced as a multiple offender rather than as a first-time offender, resulting in a stiffer sentence. Judge Shayne Sexton sentenced Cross to the maximum — 10 years imprisonment. As a first-time offender, the maximum sentence Cross could have received would have been six years imprisonment.

Explaining the reason for the plea deal in an interview with reporters following Wednesday’s proceedings, Phillips said that prosecutors rejected Cross’s theory of self defense, but were concerned that he might get off with a lesser sentence in light of the new information that Woodward was armed, had the case gone to trial.

“We didn’t have a chance to get a conviction of first degree murder [in light of the new information],” Phillips said.

“We think medical proof is conclusive that [Cross] shot [Woodward] in the back of the head,” he added. “There’s no way we feel it was self defense, but there is a legitimate argument that if the victim is armed, that’s adequate provocation [for the suspect to fire his weapon].

“[The defense] took into account the danger of a second degree murder conviction, and we took into account the danger of voluntary manslaughter at a lesser sentence,” he said.

Phillips added that a voluntary manslaughter conviction could have potentially resulted in Cross receiving probation only, and added that it was not inconceiveable that a jury might have found that Cross had acted in self defense.

“We think this was a fair disposition, because we were able to get a greater sentence than if he had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter,” he said.

Phillips, who called the case “very troubling,” said that he understood that the Burress and Woodward families would not be happy with the plea arrangement.

“Anybody can understand if you lose a family member who was only 15, the family will be disappointed that the sentence was not greater,” he said. But, he added, “This case would’ve gone a lot better and we would have gotten more punishment against Mr. Cross than we wound up with if everybody had simply told the truth from the beginning.”

Phillips said that the allegations that Woodward might have been armed at the time of the shooting came forward shortly after the trial ended in April 2006. However, it was not until some time later that the TBI was able to substantiate that claim.

“We thought Cross was lying,” Phillips said of Cross’s contention that Woodward was armed. “It’s not unusual for us to get allegations [saying that witnesses had perjured themselves].”

Following the investigation, he said, “I don’t think the TBI had any doubt that the victim was armed with a handgun at the time he was shot, and that it was disposed of at the request of Jeannie Burress.”

For their part, Woodward’s family still contends that Woodward was not armed when he was killed. In a sworn affidavit filed by Jeannie Burress on Tuesday, she requested to testify at the upcoming trial, saying, “I testified at the first trial and my testimony will be the same.”

Phillips alleged that Burress did not cooperate with the TBI during its investigation. As a result, he said, the state will seek a perjury indictment against Burress from the Scott County Grand Jury during its March term.

Family members insisted that Burress did not cooperate with Agent Vinsant because she had telephoned authorities in Nashville and did not believe he was assigned to the case.

With credit for jail time served prior to the 2006 trial, Cross will have served three years of his 10 year sentence in April. Under the state’s parole guideline of 35% of the prison term, Cross will be eligible for parole by October. However, Phillips said it would be unusual for a state parole board to grant him early release, due to the violent nature of the crime. He added that he expects Cross to be required to serve the entire lenth of his sentence, which will end in April 2014.