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.
Shotsie Buck-Hayes pleaded guilty in April to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding over his attack on Danville City Council Member Lee Vogler.
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 attempted murder and a life sentence for aggravated malicious wounding but suspended part of both sentences, giving him a 40-year term.
Attorneys for Buck-Hayes say they are planning to appeal 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 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."
Vogler was elected to the city council in 2012 at the age of 24, making him the youngest person to ever ascend to that position.