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OBSERVER Staff Report
BUFFALO -- Daryl Bland, 23, of Buffalo, was sentenced Tuesday to a determinate 15 years in prison plus five years post-release supervision in the fatal shooting of a Gowanda man, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced.
On Oct. 26, 2016 at about 12:50 a.m., 31-year-old Dustin Sharp was shot and killed by Bland on Route 438 in the town of Collins on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. On Dec. 20, 2016, Bland was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana.
Before the case went to trial, Bland pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter on March 13, 2018 and faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
DA Flynn commends the New York State Police and Seneca Nation's Marshals for their thorough investigative work. Assistant District Attorney Michael D. Smith of the DA's Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Alicia M. Lilley of the DA's Felony Trials Bureau prosecuted the case.