SAN DIEGO -- A man who repeatedly shot his uncle and beat him with a baseball bat during an argument over drugs was sentenced Friday to 21 years and four months in state prison.

Jerry William McCluney, 25, was convicted Jan. 23, 2009, of assault with a semiautomatic weapon and possession for sale of drugs.

Jurors deadlocked on charges of attempted murder and assault involving the bat, but McCluney was convicted of the bat assault after a second trial. Prosecutors decided not to retry him on the attempted murder charge.

Defense attorney John Mitchell argued today for a 13-year prison term, telling Judge David Gill that McCluney's behavior was either "aberrant" or "unusual."

But the judge disagreed, saying McCluney has shown an increasing penchant for violence, beginning at age 11 when he antagonized and harassed a 9-year-old boy.

Gill also noted uncharged incidents from 2003 and 2006, in which two women accused McCluney of physical and verbal abuse.

The judge called the defendant's behavior a "disturbing trend" toward increasing criminality.

"He resorts to violence if things don't go his way," Gill said.

The judge said McCluney's use of force on his uncle, Brian Gooden, was "grossly inappropriate, gratuitous" and "random."

According to trial testimony, McCluney returned to Gooden's home around noon on April 7, 2008, after the two had argued earlier in the day. The 47-year-old victim threw a glass vase at his nephew when he came to the front door, and McCluney left again, prosecutors said.

McCluney came back to his uncle's residence with a gun and shot the victim twice in a bedroom. McCluney then put the gun in his waistband, picked up a baseball bat and clubbed the victim six to eight times, prosecutors said.

The victim got his nephew in a "bear hug" to stop the attack, but McCluney shot him one more time, then fired two more shots, leaving the victim with at least four bullet wounds, according to the prosecution.

McCluney testified that he went to his uncle's home to sell cocaine but shot Gooden after the deal fell through and he couldn't get his drugs back.