A Waldorf man who confessed to his involvement in the Thanksgiving 2004 shooting death of Christopher Mader and testified at the murderer's June trial has been sentenced to a 15-year suspended prison term.

Shawn Marshall Myers, 34, will be returned to Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, Va., where he is incarcerated for violating probation in that state.

In addition to the suspended jail time, Circuit Court Judge Helen I. Harrington also ordered that Myers serve five years of supervised probation and live with his mother in Waldorf upon his release from Virginia prison.

Myers chose not to say anything at his sentencing hearing, other than that he hopes to start a business once he gets out of jail.

Myers pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and agreed to testify against Matthew Derek Correll, who was convicted of Mader's murder, in exchange for a suspended prison sentence.

Last month Charles County Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Nalley sentenced Correll, 31, of Newburg to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mader had just gotten off from his job as a bartender at the Bennigan's in Waldorf and was driving to his Hampshire home when he was shot in the head around 2:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving 2004. His car careened off of Smallwood Drive and crashed into a signpost and power box near William B. Wade Elementary School. He was 23.

An off-duty Washington, D.C., policeman who lived nearby heard a lone gunshot and arrived on the scene to discover the wreck and Mader’s body inside.

Officers suspected Mader, whose pockets were stuffed with tip money following one of the busiest bartending nights of the year, was the target of a botched robbery.

But the case went cold and remained so for nearly six years, along the way becoming one of the most notorious crimes in county history, before investigators finally received tips fingering Correll as the shooter. He was indicted for first-degree murder in Oct. 2010 and arrested in King George, Va., one week later.

A grand jury indicted Myers in April 2011 as Correll's accomplice, charging him with first-degree murder, two counts of using a handgun in commission of a violent crime, attempted robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery. He was arrested that June.

Myers testified at Correll's trial that the pair had conspired to rob Mader after he got off from work and followed him in their car from Bennigan's. While both cars were stopped, Correll walked up to Mader's window and, after 30 seconds or so, shot him in the head, Myers testified.

A third man also testified to being in the car with Correll and Myers, but he was not charged with any crime.

jnewman@somdnews.com