A jury convicted him last week of manslaughter and today a judge sentenced Edward Reyes to 7 years in prison for killing Norman “Butta” Ferguson. That is the same sentence Reyes received when he was first convicted for killing Ferguson in 2006. Reyes shot and killed Ferguson in January of 2005 in front of Prime Cut Meats – the business owned by Reyes which Ferguson worked at.
So Reyes killed his own employee but today a remarkable list of ten character witnesses asked Justice Adolph Lucas to be lenient in sentencing Reyes. The list included the Chairman of the Kolbe Foundation, the former Governor of the Central Bank, and the Clerk of the National Assembly. To Butta Ferguson’s niece Kendra Tucker – today’s sentencing and the parade of character witnesses was another slap in the face.
Kendra Tucker, Niece of Butta Ferguson
“I feel that it is a slap in my face as a black woman, coming from a black family in this nation. I feel that if this case would turn around, if it had been Norman that had killed Mandos, I think by now we would not have
been at this stage in an appeal with this sentence back again at 7.”
Keith Swift,
In there ten character witnesses described Mr. Reyes as kind, humble, and one even called him a victim. What is your reaction to that characterization of him?
Kendra Tucker,
“Well then I can say the same about my uncle. He was kind, loving, and he was the victim. Everybody that knows Butta knows that he was a very nice person, a very friendly person and he was the victim.
When you have the man that is in charge of the prison Mr. Woods come and talk about this person’s character. The jailer come to speak on behalf of the prisoner. Now you tell me where is the justice for a black family in this justice. Tell me where is the justice. I know we were not born with the silver spoon in our mouth but we have a heart and we belong to somebody. Norman Butta Ferguson was not a blackbird that dropped from the sky. He belonged to somebody. He was the son of Elvira Young and Robert Ferguson, born on the 22nd of January 1952. He belonged to somebody.”
If Reyes wants to appeal, he’ll have to go to the Privy Council.
