Man gets life in prison for killing former firefighter

33-year-old convicted last month of murder, attempted murder

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville Beach man who shot and killed a former Jacksonville firefighter and tried to shoot his own stepfather in February 2011 was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Charles Pearce, 33, was convicted last month of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder. He received a life sentence for each conviction.

Pearce shot and killed 42-year-old Mike McCue (pictured below) and shot at Pearce's stepfather, Michael Otis, in Jacksonville Beach but missed.

During his victim impact statement Friday, Mitch McCue, Mike's brother, said his twin often speaks to him, like he did the very day Pearce shot and killed him. He told the courtroom what he heard his brother say.

"He says, 'I was in my front yard. I was planting a plant. This guy comes up, does what he does, says what he does, distracts me, pulls a gun, shoots me in the head,'" Mitch McCue said.

He said Mike told him he's in his murderer's ear and always will be.

"He said, 'I'm going to prove to you that I'm in his ear. I'm going to prove it to you,'" Mitch McCue said. "So he said, 'You'll find him in Yuma, Arizona. You'll find his van on the side of the road.' This was before he was even captured. How ironic?"

Mitch McCue said one day his phone rang and it was the police telling him sure enough they'd caught Pearce in Yuma.

During the trial, prosecutor John Guy said Mike McCue spent his last day on Earth working on the yard with his girlfriend. He said that was turned into "a universal nightmare by a man with evil in his heart and a loaded gun."

Prosecutors said while Pearce was delusional, he knew right from wrong.

"He did not kill because he had to. He did it seeking revenge," prosecutor Janeen Kirch said.

The defense said Pearce didn't know what he was doing.

Michael McCue

"There are two Charles Pearces: one that's hard working, kind and helpful to others," defense attorney Michael Bateh said. "The other Charles Pearce was paranoid, obsessive, delusional and accusatory."

While Mike McCue was a former firefighter, at the time he was killed, he was training soldiers how to detonate bombs and was supposed to be going to Afghanistan that weekend to do so. He got in late from out of state and decided to go home to rest and was killed 12 hours later.

McCue's family said thousands of people attended his funeral, which was televised in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He's the epitome of an American," Mitch McCue said. "He's the guy who's going to put himself second and put you first to help you in a time of need. That's the kind of guy he is."

"I miss him. I miss him everyday," said Kelly McCue, Mike McCue's sister. "I want to talk to him. I want to hug him. I want to laugh with him. I want him to complain about me being messy in his nice, neat house, and I just love him. He was what love is."

During the trial, defense attorneys said Pearce was a man convinced that his family and neighbors had stolen $30 million in inheritance money that did not exist. They called witnesses to speak to Pearce's long history of mental health issues and contend his delusions became his obsession.

Prosecutors called a psychologist, who said Pearce was sane at the time of the shooting.

A jury took about an hour to return a guilty verdict last month.