The suspect in a 2022 shooting at the Ace of Clubs Tavern in Hoquiam pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree manslaughter.

Michael Robert Moore, 58, Aberdeen, received a sentence of three years imprisonment and followed by three years on probation from Judge David Mistachkin of Grays Harbor Superior Court, according to court documents.

Moore was tried in August, with a trial that ended when the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

The incident occurred on Sept. 15 when Moore entered the bar just before 9 p.m. and got in a verbal altercation with a patron, Steve Button. Button and Moore left the rear of the bar and got into a scuffle in the parking lot with fists and pool sticks, ending when Moore shot and killed Button with a single round from the revolver he was carrying. He was arrested at the scene by the Hoquiam Police Department and detained.

Button’s actions in escalating the conflict were a key point of the defense’s presentation during the trial, highlighting Button’s greater size and ease in physically defeating Moore in Moore’s decision to defend himself, while the prosecution argued that Moore started and pushed the pace of the altercation right from the beginning, negating any claim to self-defense.

Charges for murder and illegal possession of a weapon were dismissed, according to court documents.

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.