VIDALIA — Ricardo Dukes will have to serve the 25-year sentence for manslaughter the Seventh Judicial District Court handed down against him in April.

Dukes had filed a motion for the court to reconsider its sentence, but when it went before Judge Glen Strong Wednesday it was denied.

Dukes initially pleaded guilty to manslaughter in February for the April 2008 stabbing death of Frank Holmes.

Dukes argued that he should have a lighter sentence because he was a first time offender, he didn’t intend to kill the victim and because he thought he had to defend himself at the time of the stabbing. His attorney used the same arguments at his initial sentencing.

Public Defender Derrick Carson represented Dukes during the initial court proceedings, and stood in as legal counsel when Dukes appeared before the court.

“(The judge) said, ‘I considered everything before, and that is the decision I made,’” Carson said.

The case began April 2, 2008, when emergency responders arrived at 103A John Dale Drive to find Holmes unconscious on the bathroom floor with two stab wounds in his chest.

Later, it was revealed that an evening that involved drinking and some drug use turned ugly when Holmes and Dukes got into an argument, reportedly because Holmes believed Dukes was treating his girlfriend badly.

In statements later read in court, Dukes reportedly told investigators that he had stabbed Holmes because he knew the victim had a knife and he feared it would be used against him.

Police did find two knives on Holmes’ person, but they were in his pocket, unopened.

Frank Holmes was 51 when he died.