A man convicted in a deadly shooting outside an Erie convenience store has been sentenced.

Kyontia Blanks, 26, was convicted last month of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of 40-year-old Frederick Perry. On Tuesday, Erie County Judge Daniel Brabender sentenced Blanks to nine to 18 years in state prison.

Perry was shot to death in October 2021 in front of a store at West 18th and Chestnut streets. The district attorney’s office argued for a first-degree murder conviction.

Blanks claimed he acted in self-defense.