A Windsor man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the death of his friend more than two years ago.
Derek Gammon, 37, was sentenced Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter on Tuesday.
Gammon was initially charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of 52-year-old Dan Major on Sept. 2, 2015.
The court heard that the two men were friends, and they were drinking all evening, but around 11:30 p.m. that night, they got into a fight.
Police arrived at a home on Brant Street around 12:30 a.m. to find Major on the floor of the kitchen with stab wounds to the chest and arms. Gammon was cradling his head.
Police tried to revive Major, as did EMS, but he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy showed Major had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit, with severe head trauma but he died from strangulation.
A joint statement of facts also stated Major’s nose was broken and he sustained several fractured ribs in the assault.
Major’s family said they are glad to be spared a trial, but they are not happy with the sentence.
Major’s nephew Steven Van Vrouwerff told CTV News “We grew up together for 50 years, always together and he’s not there no more, that really hurts.”
With time already served, Gammon will spend the next six years and eight months in prison.
Gammon also faces a lifetime ban from owning weapons and must give police a DNA sample.