Man gets 5 years in stabbing

A Rowan County man will spend more than five years in prison for stabbing his brother to death.

Ricky Levi Torrence pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter as part of an agreement with District Attorney Bill Kenerly.

Superior Court Judge Larry Ford sentenced Torrence to serve at least five years-11 months and as much as seven years-11 months.

Officials initially charged Torrence with murder, but prosecutor Kenerly told Ford that he offered the manslaughter plea because the investigation indicated James Torrence picked up a knife and attacked first on the night of Aug. 24

Rowan County Sheriff’s Detective Jamie Beach testified Thursday that Ricky Torrence suffered a 2-inch cut on his left hand.

But investigators were swayed by the number of stab wounds that James Torrence eventually suffered — two to the chest, including a fatal one puncturing his lung; at least one to the arm; and six less serious lacerations to his head.

“Your honor, if there had only been one wound (to James Torrence), frankly, we might not have brought a charge in this case,” Kenerly said.

Even Ricky Torrence’s attorney, Larry Harris of Concord, admitted that his client probably “lost control” once he was attacked.

“Did he use more force than was necessary?” Harris asked. “It’s hard to say either way.”

Ricky Torrence, 40, lived with his brother James, 42, and their father, William Marvin Torrence, in a single-wide mobile home at 2275 Bradshaw Road, about a mile south of N.C. 150 in western Rowan County.

In summarizing the evidence he gathered, Detective Beach said both men had been drinking that Friday night.

An autopsy showed later that James Torrence’s blood alcohol level was equivalent to .22 on a Breathalyzer test, almost three times the level at which a driver is considered intoxicated.

Emergency Medical Service workers who arrived at the house first found James Torrence dead on the living room floor and Ricky Torrence wearing “white pants saturated with blood.”

Ricky Torrence told an EMS worker that he came home from work and found that his older brother was berating their father.

At one point, James Torrence threatened to kill himself, and “Ricky told James to go on and do it ... save us the trouble,” the EMS worker later recalled in a statement.

That angered James Torrence, who attacked his brother with a knife.

“Ricky Torrence said he had to defend himself,” the EMS worker said.

Ricky Torrence also told Detective Beach, “I’m fixin’ to go up the road for defending myself.”

Beach said that family and friends of the Torrence brothers indicated that James Torrence “could be an aggressive and dangerous man” when angered.

Harris, Ricky Torrence’s attorney, said he has found his client “to be a rather quiet man” who feels “great remorse” for a “situation that got out of hand.”

“He’s suffered a great deal,” Harris said. “He’s ready to accept his responsibility and accept that he must return to the prison system.”

Torrence has remained in the Rowan County Detention Center ever since the stabbing and is currently serving a short sentence for violating his probation on an earlier DWI conviction.

Ricky Torrence previously worked for Cannon Mills and the K&W Cafeteria in Kannapolis and as a carpenter on construction jobs, Harris said.

The judge asked prison officials to consider Torrence for work release.

Kenerly said he understands that the Department of Corrections tries to assign inmates to a prison close to their home.

Ricky and James Torrence’s father, William; their other brother, William Henry Thomas; and a sister sat quietly in the audience Thursday during the hearing, declining to speak to Judge Ford.

Afterward, outside the courtroom, William Henry Thomas said the family believes court officials tried to act fairly in the case.

“We love them both, and we’re sad about what happened,” the oldest brother said. “But we really believe it was self defense. We knew James had a temper. ... I live next door to them, and I know he had a temper.

“We’re not saying what Ricky did was right, but we know he was defending himself.”

Contact Frank DeLoache at 704-797-4245 or fdeloache@salisburypost.com .