Arizona man gets 13-year sentence for hatchet killing during eviction dispute

A Kingman, Arizona, man was sentenced Thursday to 13 years in prison for using a hatchet to kill a man he was trying to evict from his property.

The sentence imposed on Joshua McCoy, 29, was the longest possible under a plea agreement on a second-degree murder charge.

Law enforcement authorities and attorneys said McCoy allowed the victim, 61-year-old Gregory Godsil, to stay on his property for about a week in late July 2015 before trying to get him to leave.

The fatal encounter occurred after Godsil broke into McCoy’s garage. Prosecutor Jacob Cote of the Mohave County Attorney’s Office said McCoy was armed with a hatchet when he confronted Godsil. McCoy claimed Godsil reached for a tool to use as a weapon before he struck him five times in the head with the hatchet.