A convict yesterday expressed his desire to apologize to his victim's mother.

Elshaddai Ferguson, 23, was convicted in May of manslaughter by provocation in the shooting death of Cordero Finley, a relative of murdered gang leader Julian "Heads" Collie, at the now-closed Baller's Club on East Bay Street and Mackey Street on May 29, 2012. At his scheduled sentencing hearing, Justice Carolita Bethell asked Ferguson to explain what he meant when he said that he accepted the jury's verdict. He said, "I'm saying I did cause the death of the deceased."

"You shot him?" Bethell asked.

"Yes," Ferguson replied.

Asked to explain the dissonance between this position and the denials during the trial, Ferguson said at the time he was facing a murder charge. He continued, "I had no intention of harming or hurting anyone."

"You're sorry?" Bethell asked.

"Yes ma'am, very sorry."

Bethell inquired, "Would you like to express that to his mother? Sometimes it helps to bring closure, especially if a mother loses a child."
Ferguson said that he would like to address his victim's mother as the judge emphasized that he was not being compelled to. Bethell has adjourned the sentencing hearing to Tuesday at 1 p.m for this to occur.

During a hearing earlier this month, defense lawyer Lessiah Rolle suggested that Ferguson be sentenced to no more than three years in prison. He said that Ferguson was reared in a home with Christian principles and attended Mount Tabor Baptist Church most of his life. By contrast, prosecutor Cordell Frazier said that a sentence in the range of 18 to 35 years as set out by the Court of Appeal was appropriate. She noted that the Court of Appeal had increased the five-year sentence of Raphael Neymour, who was convicted of manslaughter, to 20 years.

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