Second homicide case resolved today

For a second time today, the Oconee General Sessions Court accepted the guilty plea of a murder defendant to a lesser charge. Joshua Randall Ferguson this afternoon pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sent to prison for 15 years. The 15 years were recommended by assistant solicitor Blair Stoudemire, and Judge Lee Alford told Ferguson it’s a no-parole offense, meaning that the 39-year old man must serve the entire prison term. Ferguson admitted Charles Benson Cantrell in the back November 15, 2013 at a home near Seneca. There, according to Stoudemire, Cantrell was a visitor and Ferguson and others began to make methamphetamine. An argument broke out and escalated into a physical confrontation. Ferguson’s lawyer, Keith Denny, said what happened amounted to a split-second decision for which his client is regretful. Scott Strickland, an uncle of Ferguson, turned and apologized to the Cantrell family, and took the blame for helping rear his nephew he wrong way. Ferguson will get credit on his sentence for already having served 439 days awaiting trial.