<p>A man who admitted to setting a Virginia city council member on fire over an alleged affair was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday.</p><p>Shotsie Buck-Hayes pleaded guilty in April to <a href="https://foxnews.com/category/entertainment/genres/crime" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">attempted first-degree murder</a> and aggravated malicious wounding over his attack on Danville City Council Member Lee Vogler.</p><p>Witnesses told the court that on July 30, 2025, Buck-Hayes stormed into Vogler's Danville office and doused him with gasoline before chasing him out of the building and setting him on fire, according to <a href="https://cardinalnews.org/2025/09/30/judge-sends-buck-hayes-case-to-grand-jury-following-july-attack-of-danville-city-council-member-lee-vogler/?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cardinal News</a>.</p><p>Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Newman told reporters that Buck-Hayes spoke at his sentencing hearing and offered "what he claimed to be an apology" while maintaining that he was motivated by an alleged affair between Vogler and Buck-Hayes' wife, Mary Alice.</p><p><a href="https://foxnews.com/us/arizona-executes-man-killed-victim-dousing-gasoline-setting-fire-2002-attack" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>ARIZONA EXECUTES MAN WHO KILLED VICTIM BY DOUSING HIM IN GASOLINE AND SETTING HIM ON FIRE IN 2002 ATTACK</strong></a></p><p>Mary Alice filed for divorce in mid-July 2025, about two weeks before the attack, according to court records cited by Cardinal News.</p><p>In September 2025, during the grand jury phase of the case, Sgt. Gerrit Clay with the Danville Police Department testified that Buck-Hayes intended to kill the married father of two over this alleged affair, an accusation that has never been substantiated.</p><p><a href="https://foxnews.com/entertainment/how-i-met-your-mother-actor-nick-pasqual-sentenced-decades-prison-stabbing-ex-girlfriend" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>'HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER' ACTOR NICK PASQUAL SENTENCED TO DECADES IN PRISON FOR STABBING EX-GIRLFRIEND</strong></a></p><p>Blair Vogler, the council member’s wife, testified that the attack left her husband with second- and third-degree burns across 60% of his body.</p><p>After the attack, Vogler was immediately airlifted to the burn unit at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and spent months recovering.</p><p>"In order to correct those burns, they had to take an additional 35% of his skin, so there was a time when he was 95% open," Blair Vogler testified, according to Cardinal News. "That has led to infections, he’s had burn shock, septic shock… a smoke inhalation injury, and burns to his lungs, so he had pneumonia."</p><p><a href="https://foxnews.com/us/convicted-killer-karmelo-anthony-claims-penniless-appeal-despite-major-donor-funded-legal-campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>CONVICTED KILLER KARMELO ANTHONY CLAIMS HE IS 'PENNILESS' IN APPEAL DESPITE MAJOR DONOR-FUNDED LEGAL CAMPAIGN</strong></a></p><p>Circuit Judge James Reynolds sentenced Buck-Hayes to life in prison. He gave him 10 years for attempted murder and a life sentence for aggravated malicious wounding, but suspended part of both sentences, giving him a 40-year term.</p><p>Attorneys for Buck-Hayes say they are planning on appealing his sentence. They also said he is not a U.S. citizen and that in the future, he will likely return to his home country, the United Kingdom, according to <a href="https://abc11.com/story/lee-vogler-man-sentenced-life-prison-months-pleading-guilty-setting-virginia-councilman-fire/19383130/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC11</a>.</p><p>After the attack, doctors believed Vogler would have to stay in the hospital for six months. According to his <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-lee-voglers-recovery?attribution_id=sl:d3cbdab9-bce9-45b3-9b74-c7564f1f03bb&lang=en_US&ts=1758596355&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a>, he was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 21, 2025, roughly three months earlier than expected.</p><p>That same day, Vogler attended his first city council meeting since the attack and was warmly welcomed back by his colleagues.</p><p>"Recovery remains a long road—months to years—and will include orthopedic surgeries for a condition called heterotopic ossification, as well as future cosmetic and laser procedures to improve functionality, range of motion, and everyday independence," Blair Vogler wrote in a December 2025 update on the GoFundMe. "One of Lee’s greatest challenges right now is working to regain use of the left hand due to nerve damage."</p><p>Vogler was elected to the city council in 2012 at the age of 24, making him the youngest person to ever be ascend to that position.</p>
