Branden Forrest takes plea deal in Ewell's Place stabbing

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One of two men accused of murdering a popular tattoo artist outside a Fresno bar last year will go to prison, but not for murder.

25-year-old Branden Forrest admitted to manslaughter in court Thursday, exactly two weeks after a jury couldn't reach a verdict in his case. Forrest always admitted to stabbing Michael Tunnell outside Ewell's Place last summer, and he always said he did it to save his friend, Sam Whitmore.

The jury found Whitmore not guilty of any crime, but they were split on whether Forrest committed second degree murder or manslaughter. Surveillance video showed him charging at the man police eventually found dead outside Ewell's Place in central Fresno last August.

Branden Forrest admitted he had a knife and stabbed Michael Tunnell. But he said he only attacked to save the third man in the video -- his best friend, Sam Whitmore. Ultimately, jurors felt Forrest didn't have a right to kill, but couldn't agree on how to classify the crime.

"It was nine jurors voting for second degree murder and three voting for manslaughter and none of them thought this was entirely justified," said Forrest's defense attorney, Mark Siegel.

Forrest could've asked for a new trial, but when prosecutors offered to let him plead to manslaughter and serve a seven-year prison sentence, he took some time to mull it over.

Whitmore's attorney says his client got the same offer before trial, but he was adamant he committed no crime, and the jury acquitted him.

Forrest felt the same way, but with different results. "He also came to the belief that there were risks involved with going to trial and he decided, with the advice of counsel, this was in his best interest to take the plea bargain," Siegel said.

The judge called the entire case tragic, saying it proves alcohol and weapons are a dangerous combination. "I think it's unfortunate we lost one person for good and another person for seven years as a result of conduct that I think, everybody looking back on it, looks unwise," said Judge W. Kent Hamlin of the Fresno Superior Court.

Tunnell's mother didn't want to talk on camera Thursday, but she told Action News Forrest and Whitmore didn't have to kill her son, and she didn't think the end result was fair.

Forrest's attorney said his client is concerned that revenge may still be in the air and Tunnell may have friends in prison.

He's due to get out in 2019.