In a new development in a 2010 murder case, defendant Coleon Lee Carroll pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Feb. 22.
Both Carroll and his co-defendant, Brandon Wallace, are charged with the murder of Gary Ferguson Jr., who was shot and killed in October 2010. Another unidentified man was shot and seriously injured during the incident.
Having originally been charged with murder and attempted murder, Carroll took a plea deal and will be sentenced March 21. He must serve 85 percent of his 13-year sentence, according to Berkeleyside.
Berkeley Police Department officials believed that the shooting was not random and that the defendants intended to shoot the victims. Ferguson and the unidentified man were transported to a local trauma center, where Ferguson later died from his wounds and the other man underwent surgery.
The police confirmed that Wallace and Carroll arrived at the scene together and left in the same car. Wallace was arrested two days after the shooting occurred. Carroll was arrested in connection with the shooting a week later in Antioch, California.
Carroll was originally arrested on suspicion of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, and he was later charged with murder and attempted murder.
Wallace’s case is pending, with no updates at this time. According to Berkeleyside, opening arguments for his case are set for the first few weeks of March, as he faces trial for charges of murder and attempted murder.
