LAWRENCE (AP) – A Lawrence man who tried unsuccessfully to withdraw a guilty plea in the death of a Lawrence hip-hop artist has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 32-year-old Major C. Edwards Jr. apologized Tuesday to relatives of Anthony Vital, who was found shot to death near Lawrence in October 2006.

Edwards has already spent more than three years in jail awaiting resolution of the case, leaving him a little more than 10 additional years to serve.

Edwards had pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter under an agreement to testify against a co-defendant who he says shot Vital to collect on a drug debt. The co-defendant’s case ended in a mistrial, and prosecutors dropped the charges against him.

Edwards then tried to withdraw his guilty plea.