Man gets 20 years for stabbing drinking buddy to death

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) – Prosecutors say a man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the stabbing his drinking buddy to death in South Carolina.

Prosecutors said a Spartanburg County jury found 49-year-old Lawton Holloway guilty of voluntary manslaughter at the end of his five-day trial Friday.

Authorities say police found 33-year-old Jeremy Bell dead from 14 stab wounds in a Duncan home in August 2017.

Not long after police arrived, prosecutors said in a statement that Holloway returned to the home with blood on his shoes and clothes and said he stabbed Bell in self-defense.

Prosecutors say Holloway was drinking with Bell and his girlfriend hours before the stabbing. The woman told authorities she slept through the attack