NEW: Gunman in 2015 shootout with Carter County sheriff and deputies wins partial appeal

A North Carolina man convicted for his role in a gunfight with Sheriff Dexter Lunceford and several Carter County deputies has won a portion of an appeal challenging his sentence.

A judge with the Tennessee Court of Appeals wrote that the state concedes the judgment for Kelly Lee Pitts for employment of a firearm in commission of a felony was in error.

The court did not grant the appeal of his sentence for seven counts of attempted first-degree murder. Pitts’ attorney argued that his client was too intoxicated to premeditate the ambush caused in the December 2015 domestic call at a mobile home near Elizabethton. Deputy Jenna Markland, who was in training at the time, was injured during that shootout.

The judge remanded the weapon charge back to Circuit Court but noted Pitts’ 48-year prison sentence remains unchanged.

Information posted by the Tennessee Department of Correction says Pitts is eligible for release in March 2036.

(MUGSHOT: TN DOC)