Many Feilding residents feel outraged and disappointed over the five-year jail term handed to Ewen Macdonald.
The 32-year-old was sentenced for six crimes committed before his brother-in-law Scott Guy was fatally shot on the family farm in July 2010.
Macdonald was acquitted of murdering Guy in July this year.
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Earlier today the High Court in Palmerston North sentenced Macdonald to five years in prison for the six crimes, which included theft, arson and vandalism.
Many people in the town, where Macdonald once lived and worked, told ONE News his sentence was too lenient.
With time already served, Macdonald could be paroled by the end of this year.
He married into the Guy family and lived and worked on their farm, outside Feilding.
The Guys are well known in the town, which has a population of around 15,000, and some told ONE News reporter Daniel Faitaua there would be little support for Macdonald if he returned.
"God help him, he don't want to come back in this town - nobody wants him," one resident said.
"If he got five years you should put a nought on the end of that because that is what he deserves," said another.
But Rangitikei MP Ian McKelvie has called for calm.
"I could understand (people) being upset, but at the same time, I think we've just got to accept that our law system works very well," he said.