FLORENCE, SC (AP) - A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 43 years in prison after admitting he beat a man to death in Timmonsville after a friend dared him to attack the victim.
Multiple media outlets report that Jeremy Durant pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday in the 2009 killing.
Prosecutors say Durant attacked 47-year-old Van Bass with brass knuckles after the friend's dare, then got a pole from behind a building and kept attacking Bass until he died.
Bass' family asked the judge for a life sentence, saying Bass was so badly beaten up they had to close his casket at his funeral.
Durant apologized to Bass' family and asked for forgiveness.
A co-defendant, Randy Baker, is awaiting trial on a murder charge.
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