A supposed Gainesville gang member pleaded guilty on Monday to severely beating a man during a 2012 St. Patrick's Day gathering in Manassas, according to a Washington Post report.
Justin Lee Finley, 24, of Gainesville pleaded guilty before substitute Circuit Court Judge John E. Kloch to two counts of assault and battery and no contest to two counts of felony criminal gang participation, according to Prince William County Circuit Court documents.
A plea of "no contest" indicates the defendant isn't acknowledging guilt, but rather that prosecutors have enough evidence in the case to get a conviction.
Finley who prosecutors say is a member of the Bloods street gang, will be sentenced on Nov. 21 and faces up to 22 years in prison.
The victim in the case, John Henry Jackson II of Manassas Park, died three months after being attacked on March 17, 2012 by two alleged Bloods gang members at a gathering in the Georgetown South neighborhood of Manassas.
The suspects attacked the victim because he was heard disrespecting another gang member.
Another man, Stephon Damont Greene pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges earlier this year in connection to Jackson's death. His sentencing is scheduled for September.
Greene once faced second degree murder charges in the case, but prosecutors later changed that, saying there were no weapons used in the case and that the intent was not to kill anyone.
Manassas City Police Detective A.G. Barahona, a member of the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force told prosecutors that Greene told him in an interview, "'I didn't intentionally mean to kill that boy. One punch and he fell, boom.'"
Read more about Greene's guilty plea here.
Jackson was hospitalized for several months and was in a coma, from which he briefly awoke, before dying of severe brain injuries about three months after the attack.
Greene also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and felony gang participation charges in connection with an attack on another man the same day of Jackson's attack. A sentence on those charges will also be handed down in September.
Read more Patch reports on this case:
Area Men Charged in Fatal Gang Fight
Two Indicted in Case of Fatal Gang Attack
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