BANGOR – A Lee man whose wife died 36 hours after he shot her in the thigh last year pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter in Penobscot County Superior Court in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Carl Dyer, 52, is scheduled to be sentenced the week of Dec. 6, the same week he was scheduled to go on trial for murder.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson on Friday told Superior Court Justice Joseph Jabar that he and defense attorney Nolan Tanous of Millinocket had agreed to recommend a 20-year sentence. The murder charge is expected to be dismissed after Dyer’s sentencing.

The maximum sentence for manslaughter is 40 years. If he had been convicted of murder, Dyer faced 25 years to life in prison.

Benson and Tanous both declined to comment on the case until after the sentencing.

Dyer was indicted Aug. 2, 2004, by a Penobscot County grand jury on charges of murder and manslaughter in the death of his wife, Rosemarie Dyer, 52. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2004.

Members of the victim’s family sat silently in the courtroom as Dyer changed his plea. After the hearing, they declined to comment.

Dyer dabbed at his eyes with a tissue as deputies with the Penobscot County sheriff’s office led him from the courtroom. He has been in custody since July 2, 2004, when police were called to the Dyers’ Ridge Road home in Lee after Dyer reported he shot his wife.

When police arrived, Dyer was in front of the home with blood on his hands and with a shotgun broken into three pieces lying at his feet, according to court documents. Rosemarie Dyer was found inside lying on a couch with a pool of blood on the floor next to her.

She died July 4, 2004, at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor from a single shotgun wound to her thigh.

According to an affidavit, Dyer told a dispatcher when he called about the shooting that he was off his medication. Police haven’t commented on what type of medication he may have been taking.

It was not the first time authorities had been to the Dyer home for domestic trouble.

In 1993, Dyer reportedly shot at his wife and choked her, according to court documents. He also was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he is a convicted felon.

Since his arrest, Dyer has been held at the Penobscot County Jail on $50,000 cash bail or $200,000 collateral.