The last of four men charged in the September 2013 beating of 18-year-old James Clinton in an abandoned downtown house slated for demolition was sentenced Friday to a suspended jail term.
Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton suspended Tye Manning's sentence for three years and gave the 22-year-old credit for the 338 days he spent locked up while his case was pending. Manning pleaded guilty to one count of hindering prosecution in the case; three assault charges were dropped. Manning faces jail time for the case if he gets in trouble within three years.
The judge said Manning's time in custody was a satisfactory punishment but noted that if Clinton had died, he'd have faced a decades-long sentence, according to records.
The men -- Michael Liufau, 23; Iosia Fiso, 20; Trevvor Trobough, 21; and Manning -- were arrested for the beating. The older suspects were sentenced to from 18 months to four years in jail.
Manning's defense attorney Brendan Kelley argued during the sentencing that his client played a minimal role compared to the co-defendants. He said Manning did not assault the victim and didn't tell police because he feared the other men, the records say.