Fri, 07/22/2011 – 22:44 – PokerPages Staff

32 year-old Marcus Burriss has been jailed for 20 years for shooting and killing a man who operated an illegal poker game operation, it was revealed on Tuesday. Burriss pleaded guilty to charges of weapon possession, armed robbery and voluntary manslaughter following the incident which occurred at Dobbins Bridge Road in the Anderson County Area in 2009.

Andy Potter, defense attorney, said that Burris acted in self-defense after Hall had attempted to reach for a firearm while handing over money to the defendant. However, prosecutors revealed that Burriss had pre-planned the attack after demanding money from Hall following a brief session of video poker. This notion was rejected by Potter who suggested that Hall denied Burriss a payment he was owed. “Ultimately, Hall was operating an illegal game house and Burriss went to him wanting to be paid. Hall then leads police on a wild goose chase.”

That goose chase related to Hall’s explanation of the shooting. Hall told police that he had obtained his injuries after a mugging while looking at a car. Hall eventually died from his injuries in hospital two months later. The 20 year sentence handed to Burriss was criticized by Hall’s ex-wife, Susan Templeton, who wanted the defendant to stay behind bars for at least 30.

“I really didn’t want to hurt that man. I do want to apologize to his daughter, to everybody involved. I do want to apologize and hope you can forgive me” Burriss said in court on Tuesday.