George Taylor prayed and promised to change his ways after shooting a female friend in the buttocks during a drunken episode at his New London apartment in December 2017.

He'll have a chance to prove he meant it after he finishes a five-year prison sentence for first-degree assault and begins serving five years of probation.

"She was a good friend of mine," Taylor said of the victim, 35-year-old Janeria McClellan of Groton, during his sentencing Monday in New London Superior Court.

Taylor committed an "extraordinarily serious offense," but prosecutor Stephen M. Carney said he had recommended the five-year sentence because the victim made a good recovery and because of her good attitude toward Taylor. Interviewed while Taylor's charges were pending, McClellan told officials she did not want him to receive a harsh sentence.

She had been visiting Taylor at 12 Home St. when, she said, he was "screwing around with his gun" and shot her. She called 911, and he was taken into custody at gunpoint.

Police said they found a shell casing in the apartment and a loaded Taurus 9mm pistol with an obliterated serial number on the ground of an adjacent property. The pistol had blood on its trigger and appeared to be jammed. Inside Taylor's apartment, they said they saw a shell casing in the doorway between the living room and bedroom and blood on the apartment's floors, carpets and door.

Police also found in the apartment 36 grams of marijuana, $2,390 in cash, a digital scale, sandwich bags and a machine to vacuum seal bags. The state will not be prosecuting Taylor on drug charges as part of the plea bargain he accepted.

Defense attorney Ted Koch said Monday that Taylor had made a drunken mistake, and was immediately remorseful.

Taylor had shot himself in the finger, and began praying when he was being treated at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, according to a police report.

"God, I promise I will change my ways as long as she is OK," a police officer heard him saying.

Taylor has convictions dating to 2000, including selling narcotics, possession of marijuana and third-degree assault. He also has been arrested three times for drunken driving, according to Judge Hillary B. Strackbein.

The judge told Taylor he shouldn't be drinking at all.

"You can't get drunk and get behind the wheel of a car," she said. "You can't get drunk and have a gun. You could have killed her."

k.florin@theday.com