Shotsie Buck-Hayes, who was convicted of setting Danville City Councilmember Lee Vogler on fire last summer, will spend 40 years in prison, a judge ruled Thursday.
The hearing lasted over three hours, with emotional testimony from the Vogler family and Buck-Hayes’ family.
Thirty-year-old Buck-Hayes took the stand for the first time, talking about a decline in his mental health before the attack, primarily due to his divorce, expressing remorse and apologizing to the Vogler family.
“What I did was devastating, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart that I wish I could undo it,” Buck-Hayes said.
Vogler also testified for the first time, describing the lasting effects of the attack: chronic pain, limited mobility, ongoing therapies, future surgeries, mental and emotional tolls, and a loss of normalcy in his roles as a father and husband.
Circuit Judge James Reynolds said that this crime was “a pinnacle in human cruelty” and handed down a sentence that was longer than the state’s advisory guidelines for these crimes: life in prison for aggravated malicious wounding and 10 years for attempted first-degree murder.
All but 35 years of the life sentence will be suspended, as will five of the 10 years for attempted murder.
The city and the court must “make a clear and unequivocal statement” condemning these actions, Reynolds said.
Buck-Hayes, who was born in the U.K., was arrested July 30, hours after Vogler was attacked.
Vogler was at work when a man police later identified as Buck-Hayes entered the office, doused him with a flammable liquid and lit him on fire, according to police.
He was airlifted to the burn unit at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to receive treatment for second- and third-degree burns to more than half of his body.
In April, Buck-Hayes pleaded guilty to both charges.
Defense attorneys Edward Lavado and Matthew Pack argued that their client had experienced a severe psychotic break last summer.
“The offense occurred during the complete collapse of everything he cared about,” Lavado said.
Buck-Hayes took the stand for the first time Thursday, talking about the breakdown of his marriage and his declining mental health leading up to the attack.
Buck-Hayes said that his wife was having an affair with Vogler. He said that he was completely separated from his family in England, his marriage was falling apart and his dreams for having a family were dissolving.
The Voglers have never publicly addressed the topic of an affair, nor did they on Thursday.
Buck-Hayes apologized to the Vogler family, saying, “you don’t deserve what has happened to you.”
“I couldn’t be more sorry,” he said. “I don’t know the ins and outs of what you’ve had to go through, and I never will, but I am deeply sorry.”
Lavado argued that the attack was an isolated incident and that Buck-Hayes has shown remorse and the capacity for rehabilitation.
He also said that the attack happened during a dissociative episode — a mental state where a person feels outside of their body, loses sense of time and can feel disconnected from their identity, surroundings and actions.
This phenomenon is possible for people with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the testimony of a psychologist who observed Buck-Hayes during his time at the Central State Hospital.
Buck-Hayes spent about two weeks of his incarceration at the Petersburg facility in August 2025, and he was diagnosed with each of these conditions while there, she said.
Lavado asked the court for a sentence within the state’s advisory guidelines.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Newman argued that Buck-Hayes had not experienced a dissociative episode and that “he knew exactly what he was doing,” based on the planning he did before the attack. Buck-Hayes drove to a gas station and mixed gasoline with styrofoam, a flammable accelerant, before going to Vogler’s workplace, chasing him, dousing him with gasoline and lighting him on fire, Newman said.
“Lee and his family have received a life sentence, a life sentence of pain and trauma,” Newman said. “The defendant deserves the same thing.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Vogler and his wife, Blair, as well as his parents, Jack and Rhonda Vogler, testified.
The Voglers each spoke about the significant impact the attack had on their family — physical, mental, emotional and financial.
“I had to look at my children and prepare for the possibility that they might grow up without a father,” Blair Vogler said. “What hurts the most is knowing that our family will never return to the way it was. … The defendant’s actions lasted only minutes, but our family will be impacted for the rest of our lives.”
As of Thursday, Lee Vogler has been to more than 50 outpatient appointments and traveled over 5,000 miles to and from appointments.
The attack put her own plans on hold, she said, as she had to drop out of her graduate program with only three weeks left to take care of her husband and her kids.
“We had plans for the future,” Blair Vogler said. “We had traditions, and a sense of safety and security.”
Lee Vogler described his difficulty doing everyday tasks like tying shoes, buttoning shirts, turning doorknobs and shaving his face.
This loss of normalcy is devastating, he said, but even more devastating is the loss of connection with his children, Kingston and Ava, who were 10 and 7 years old at the time of the attack. Both children have needed counseling to process the attack and regain a sense of safety, he said.
Vogler said he can no longer throw a baseball with his son or fully lift his daughter into the air.
Their family has been “robbed” of a life where he “can be the father they deserve,” Vogler said.
“My attacker is an evil, violent individual,” Vogler said. “He not only tried to kill me, but he tried to do it in the most inhumane way possible.”
Vogler missed his kids’ first day back at school and his son’s 11th birthday while he was in a coma after the attack, said his mother, Rhonda Vogler.
She held up a picture of the children during her testimony, speaking directly to Buck-Hayes.
“I pray for the rest of your life, you will feel a little piece of the hell and trauma that you caused,” she said.
Buck-Hayes’ mother, Naomi Buck, and his brother, Josiah Buck, also testified after traveling from their home in England.
They said that although Buck-Hayes had a history of mental health issues, specifically depression, he is a compassionate person who is capable of rehabilitation.
“Inside Shotsie, there is a good person,” his mother said. “He has empathy and he has good will. … I do believe this is an isolated incident.”
She said that she tried to come to the U.S. before the attack when she could tell that her son’s mental health was declining, but she couldn’t afford the trip.
She asked to borrow money or to stay with her daughter-in-law’s family, and even contacted Danville churches for accommodations, she said, but “no one would help me.”
“We may not have a lot of finances, but we have a lot of love,” she said.
Lavado, Newman and Reynolds all said that mental health and infidelity do not excuse the attack.
Buck-Hayes also said that he wishes he had broken contact with his wife during their separation and divorce, rather than “trying to do everything to save my marriage.”
He testified that he caught his wife and Vogler in an embrace in a bathroom after both couples had been at an event together in September 2025. At the time, he walked away, but his mental health deteriorated due to ongoing contact with his wife, he said.
Buck-Hayes said that he felt like his dreams for a family with his wife had been stolen by Vogler. He grew up without a father, and he said he always wanted to be a present dad.
“Since I was 8 years old, all I wanted was my dad,” he said. “I wanted to be there for my kids, because I knew what that gap felt like. … I felt like that was taken from me, even though that’s not the case. I can see that now, and I didn’t have the insight before.”
Buck-Hayes will be 70 years old when he is released from prison. The sentence will be followed by five years of probation, and Buck-Hayes is prohibited from having any contact with Vogler and his family.
After the hearing, Vogler said that he and his family are ready to move on from the attack, and that he has “a renewed sense to do good and help others.”
“I feel like God spared me for a reason, so I intended to wake up every day trying to be the best husband I can be. The best father I can be. The best city councilman I can be,” Vogler said. “The justice system worked like it’s supposed to.”
