A man charged with first-degree murder in a 2006 shooting death pleaded guilty Monday to a lesser charge under a deal with prosecutors -- a move that angered family members of the victim.

Jarvis Raynor Ferguson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Superior Court for killing LuQuam Rakmieh Jones. The victim's family was outraged at the deal because Ferguson could be out of prison in little more than six years.

After a father, a sister and an aunt made impassioned pleas in court, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge James M. Webb explained that legal limitations are placed on judges when they pass sentence.

"I don't have the authority to increase his sentence," Webb said. "The U.S. Supreme Court took that away."

For more on this story, see Wednesday's print edition of The Pilot.