A Tucson landlord was sentenced to 1Β½ years in state prison for stalking Pima County Justice of the Peace Adam Watters in February last year.
Fei Qin, 39, received the sentence recommended by the prosecution after a jury found him guilty of the felony charge in December. Qin's lawyer had asked that he be sentenced to probation.
Prosecutor Bryan McIntyre, brought in from neighboring Cochise County to prosecute the case, said he hoped the sentence would give some solace to Watters and his family.
"I'm pleased the judge imposed the sentence he did, that he recognized the gravity of the situation and the impact of the Watters family," McIntyre said in an interview after the Jan. 12 sentencing hearing.
The Pima County jury that convicted Qin heard evidence the family was unnerved after several incidents in which garbage was left on their lawn in early February 2021. Around the same time, the judge's truck tires had been slashed twice in separate incidents while parked outside his house.
Some of the trash left in the yard of the Watters home was mail addressed to tenants Qin has recently sought to evict in Watters' court, evidence showed.
The case has drawn headlines because Watters videoed himself making profanity-laced threats to kill Qin before firing what he called a "warning shot" that landed inches from Qin's foot. Qin was unarmed at the time.
Watters was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Pinal County Attorney's Office.Β
Defense attorney Jeff Grynkewich did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
