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Ferguson Not Guilty Of Murder, But Of Manslaughter
posted (February 7, 2014)
28 year-old Glenford Ferguson Jr. is at prison tonight awaiting a sentencing hearing after the jury handed down its verdict late last night. He was accused of murdering 27 year-old Koffi Beeks in Ladyville, but after 4 hours of deliberation, a jury of 12 acquitted him of murder.

And though they were convinced that he didn't intend to kill Beeks, the prosecution proved that he did stab Beeks to death. The jury convicted him of manslaughter, and though it's not the outcome he was hoping for, his attorney, Bryan Neal, told 7News last night that a few more years behind bars is better outcome than life imprisonment:

Brian Neal, attorney
"My client was charged in 2007 with murder and he was tried on a charge of murder. The accused had put forward certain defenses, self-defense which would have freed him. Obviously the jury has rejected that. He also relied on the defense of accident which was withdrawn by the judge. We were also relying on manslaughter being an alternative verdict given the fact that there was no intent to kill and also on provocation. we had ask the jury to consider provocation mitigating it to manslaughter."

"We will ask first for 7 years because bear in mind that he has been in jail for 7 years before he was even tried. We are asking the court to take those 7 years into consideration in determining his sentence so that it would be the sentence less the 7 years that he will serve. That is better in the sense that instead of spending the rest of his life in prison and die in prison, he will now at some point be a free man in life and he has an opportunity to rebuild his life and moved on."

"It was a very difficult case for me indeed because he had given a caution statement; he had recorded a statement under caution and basically confesses to the crime. He had confessed to stabbing Mr. Beeks. His version of events was that he was attacked by Mr. Beeks and in defense of huis own life he stab Mr. Beeks and that is how he died."

"We are pleased with the verdict in the sense that it was a very difficult case because if a man confesses then there is really no way for you to say that he was not at the scene and he did not inflict the wound, so our case was centered around the intent at the time he stabbed him and we were hoping the jury would have accepted a defense of self-defense or accident but obviously they rejected that."

Ferguson's sentencing hearing takes place on February 14, where he will be given an opportunity to make a mitigation plea. As noted in our interview, He has been in prison for almost 7 years, a factor that Justice Gonzalez may consider.

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