MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Robin Canty told Dontavious Janard Dixon Tuesday in Baldwin County Superior Court in Milledgeville that she had forgiven him for shooting her daughter to death in May 2015.

“I don’t hate you; I told your mama that I don’t hate you,” Canty told Dixon right after Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Hugh V. Wingfield III sentenced him to 25 years in prison for the killing. “I hate what you did. I still don’t hate you. I do forgive you.”

Canty, who was also wounded in the side during the fatal shooting, shared some advice with the man that killed her daughter before he was escorted from the courtroom back to the county jail to await transfer to a state correctional facility.

She told him it was now up to him to seek forgiveness from God for what he had done.

Canty wiped away tears as they flowed down her face.

Earlier Dixon had expressed sorrow for shooting to death Canty’s 25-year-old daughter, Jaquisha Smith outside an apartment on West Thomas Court on May 22, 2015.

“I know sorry can’t changed nothing, but I ask you to find it in your heart to forgive me,” Dixon told Canty as he turned around to look at her face-to-face as she sat in the courtroom, an inmate herself. She is jailed on a charge of probation violation.

After the shootings of Smith and Canty, Dixon fled Baldwin County. Milledgeville police detectives later learned that Dixon had gone to stay with a relative in Newton County near Covington. It was there where authorities found him, arrested him and returned him to Baldwin County to face multiple criminal charges.

Several of the MPD detectives who worked the case attended Dixon’s sentencing hearing, which was based on plea negotiations between District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley and assistant public defender, John Bradley, who are not related.

Dixon, clad in a striped orange and white inmate jumpsuit, pleaded guilty to a lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter, as opposed to the offenses of murder and felony murder of which he was originally charged with by a county grand jury.

The defendant stood as Judge Wingfield listened to his plea to the various offenses.

In addition to the voluntary manslaughter guilty plea, Dixon also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, battery and possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer.

He was sentenced those offenses and also had his first offender act probation adjudicated.

Dixon also agreed to pay a fine of $2,000 and various court costs associated with his case. He was given credit for time already served since his arrest following the slaying and the other crimes related to the case.

Immediately after accepting a sentencing recommendation from the prosecutor, the judge imposed sentencing. Seconds afterwards, he told Dixon, “Good luck.”

Prior to Dixon’s guilty pleas to the charges, Stephen Bradley presented the facts of the case.

The prosecutor said the case had originally been scheduled for trial this week in Baldwin County Superior Court.

Bradley said Dixon used a handgun to kill Smith. He said the crime happened while Dixon was on probation under the Georgia First Offender Act. Dixon pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary on April 8, 2014 and was given first offender status. He received a 10-year probated sentence.

“At one point, he, being Mr. Dixon, was romantically involved with [Jaquisha Smith],” Bradley said. “They were an item for a period of time. By most accounts that relationship had ended prior to May 22 of last year. Some of the family dispute, and it’s possible they were, in fact, still having interactions, romantically, but it’s not relevant.”

Bradley explained that earlier on the day of the shooting, there were fights, which appeared to have been driven by gang rivalries across town at the Boddie Projects.

“It did not involve any of these people that we are aware of,” Bradley said. “The reason that’s important is because it caused Miss Smith and some other people who were aware of those heightened tensions to be very vigilant and sensitive.”

He pointed out that that the area where the shooting took place is located just inside the West End housing project.

“Some of the individuals who were alleged to have been involved earlier in the day were over in that neighborhood where some of the children were playing outside and some of them had guns,” Bradley said. “Jaquisha Smith indicated to her family and whoever else was around, including the defendant, that she was going to use her phone to call law enforcement that afternoon and remove these fellows who earlier had caused problems. …”

Bradley said her wish to call authorities led to an argument and the subsequent shooting of Smith and Canty by Dixon.

“Miss Smith struck the defendant first,” Bradley said. “There was a heated argument and most accounts, although there’s some variation of the facts, by most accounts, she strikes Mr. Dixon in the face causing some bleeding around the mouth and nose.”

Dixon then walked over to a nearby trash container near his mother’s apartment and retrieved a handgun, “or at least pulled out a weapon,” Bradley said.

He walked back to the middle of the road where Smith and some of her other family members had gathered.

“At that time, the defendant brandished the gun,” Bradley said. “He shot Miss Smith once in the chest. It was an entry wound to the front and exited the back. Some people thought she might have been shot in the back. She was not. By the autopsy account, she was shot in the front.”

Dixon then fired the gun a second time, striking Canty in one of her forearms. The bullet entered and exited, the prosecutor said.