A Bowling Green man who admitted guilt in a 2022 drive-by shooting was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison.

Torian Jackson, 38, was sentenced by Warren Circuit Judge John Grise after having pleaded guilty last month to charges of murder and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.

Jackson admitted to causing the death of Marcus McCathren, 40, of Bowling Green, who was found shot to death Oct. 24, 2022, in the 100 block of Butler Way.

By pleading guilty, Jackson avoided a trial at which he could have received up to 50 years in prison or life with no chance at parole until serving at least 20 years.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Jackson’s attorney, Jason Pfeil of the Department of Public Advocacy, acknowledged that Jackson would not be eligible for probation due to the offenses to which he pleaded guilty, while indicating that his client has “had an opportunity to reflect on things” since his arrest on Oct. 28, 2022.

“I’ve seen him grow and change,” Pfeil said in court. “He’s a very different man from when I first met him.”

The Bowling Green Police Department investigated McCathren’s death, responding to a shots fired call on Oct. 24, 2022, and finding McCathren’s body on Butler Way.

Police collected video surveillance footage from nearby homes to attempt to piece together what happened just before the shooting, determining that as McCathren walked up Butler Way, three shots were fired from a black Nissan SUV traveling in the opposite direction, with one of the shots striking McCathren.

City police received a number of tips in the days following the incident, including an anonymous tip through South Central Kentucky Crime Stoppers that named Jackson as the shooter.

BGPD Detective Jess Parry testified in a 2022 court proceeding that police interviewed a witness who claimed that Jackson had admitted to her that he killed McCathren.

The witness reported that Jackson had been mad at McCathren due to a previous incident in which McCathren broke Jackson’s jaw in a fight, Parry testified.

Jackson was found four days after the shooting and arrested.

Though he denied involvement when initially interviewed, investigators found an unspent round in a bag in Jackson’s possession that matched ammunition recovered from the crime scene.

When he pleaded guilty in August, Jackson acknowledged that Pfeil’s recitation of events that involved Jackson intentionally shooting McCathren after noticing him walking on Butler Way was true.