2008-04-21 / Front Page
BREAKING NEWS - Man pleads guilty to year-old murder
Man pleads guilty to year-old murder
By TIM GULLA
Ledger Staff Writer
A 22-year-old Gaffney man pleaded guilty in Cherokee County General Sessions Court on Monday to murdering another man during an attempted robbery last April.
Talvin Johnson, previously of West 3rd Street, was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment for the crime - a sentence that was recommended by prosecutors in exchange for Johnson's guilty plea to all charges.
Johnson had been accused of shooting Chauncey L. Wilson during an April 16 robbery inside an apartment at Berkeley Village. Johnson pleaded guilty to murder, burglary and attempted robbery.
Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, who prosecuted the case along with Assistant Solicitor Kim Leskanic, said Monday he rarely agrees to recommend a sentence but both prosecutors and the family of the victim thought it was appropriate.
The guilty plea gave the family "certainty, an admission of guilt and an apology," Gowdy said, "one of which would have been guaranteed at trial."
Circuit Court Judge J. Derham Cole presided over the plea hearing and imposed the sentence.
For more details and coverage of the hearing and a possible new development in the case, check out Wednesday's edition of The Gaffney Ledger.
