Plea of guilt to a lesser charge

A domestic situation that got out of control played out in an Oconee courtroom this afternoon with a plea of guilty by one of the defendants.  Judge Maddox accepted a plea by John Murriel Black Jr. to the charge of voluntary manslaughter.  Black had been charged with murder in the stabbing death last summer of his wife’s father, Donald Lee Davis.  The judge imposed a sentence of 15 years in prison.  According to David Wagner, deputy solicitor, the plea and sentence resolve part of the case.  Still pending trial is an accessory charge against Black’s wife, Christine Davis Black.