 Ferrell eventually stood trial for the murder of Mills and asserted he acted in self-defense, claiming that Mills had violated the bar's nonsmoking rule and had threatened to kill him with a broken beer bottle.The jury, however, convicted Ferrell of second-degree murder in March 2015 after a long-delayed trial and he was given a twenty-year sentence of which Ferrell is required to complete in its entirety.The verdict and sentence are being appealed.