PULASKI â Stabbing a friend to death in a fight over a girlfriendâs affections will send Brent Ethan Harrell to prison for 20 years, a judge ruled Monday.
Harrell, who is 21 now, was 19 when he and Chandler Spencer Dowell, also 19, met in an early-morning brawl brought on by a Facebook post and a storm of trash-talking text messages. In September, Harrell was convicted of second-degree murder.
At Mondayâs sentencing hearing in Pulaski County Circuit Court, tearful witnesses recalled the energy and enthusiasm of both young men. Some mentioned Dowell and Harrellâs friendship. But most focused on loss â of Dowellâs life and companionship in their own lives, and of Harrellâs freedom for decades to come.