Ex-councilman gets no jail time in Marine's shooting

Steve Satisky, 60, pleaded no contest to a charge of misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon in the Oct. 16, 2006, shooting of Cpl. John Lake III outside a Bragg Boulevard sports bar. The charge usually carries up to 150 days in jail, but prosecutors agreed that he didn't deserve any jail time because he had no prior criminal record.

Satisky was placed on probation for 18 months, at least six of which will be supervised. He also has to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 50 hours of community service.

A pawn shop owner who served on the City Council in the 1970s and was on the Cumberland County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at the time of the shooting, he was indicted last year on charges of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in addition to the misdemeanor charge.

Satisky claimed self-defense in the shooting, saying a drunken Lake climbed into his car and refused to get out. An unidentified woman was with Satisky in the front seat at the time, authorities said.

Lake's father said he was unhappy with the plea deal.

"He's going to die his own miserable death, no matter which way it goes," John Lake Jr. said of Satisky. "God has a plan for him, and it's in God's hand to deal with Satisky."

The younger Lake was an Iraq war veteran who returned to the U.S. a few months before the shooting. He was in a coma for months afterward, and his father said he still has bullet fragments in his skull that cannot be removed.

The 24-year-old is legally blind and will likely spend the rest of his life in a nursing home, his father said.

Satisky and John Lake III didn't know each other, authorities said, adding they have never been able to determine why Lake got into the car.