A Lynn man today admitted to stabbing 24-year-old Curtis Ashford to death on a residential South Boston street and received a mandatory life term, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

EDWARD HOLLOMAN (D.O.B.12/15/88) pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the May 31, 2008 incident that took Ashford’s life. He was sentenced to the mandatory term for that offense, life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Holloman had been indicted for first-degree murder, which carries a life term with no possibility of parole.

Holloman also pleaded guilty to a count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, for which Assistant District Attorney Mark Hallal recommended a concurrent seven-year prison term. Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriat imposed that recommendation.

Prior to sentencing, Ashford’s girlfriend, who is also the mother of his child, gave an impact statement to the court on behalf of the slain man’s family.

“On the 31st of May of 2008, our lives changed dramatically,” Starsha Groce said. “I lost the father of my son, my everything. I am now a single mother, trying to do the best for my son. I would just like to say that Curtis was my world, and so quickly you took him from us.

“When the pain goes away a little bit, it reminds me of all the nonsense violence that is out there,” she continued. “You see it on TV and in other people’s families, but when it hits home, it’s totally different … Hopefully this will show other people out there that it’s not worth it.”

Addressing the defendant, Groce said, “I want to let you know that Curtis was a person – a father, brother and companion. Even though you didn’t know him, he was a person. I will miss him, and we will miss him.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, Hallal, the chief of Conley’s Senior Trial Unit, would have proven that Holloman, ROBERTO MENDES (D.O.B. 7/10/89) of Jamaica Plain, DARREN HEMINGWAY (D.O.B. 2/24/89) of Brighton, and others were socializing at a friend’s home on East 8th Street in South Boston. The resident of that home went out onto his front steps, where he became engaged in a verbal argument with someone outside. As the two men were arguing, Ashford arrived and also became engaged in the argument.

As the verbal altercation escalated between Ashford and the resident, the three defendants went outside. Before leaving the house, Mendes allegedly grabbed a knife from the apartment.

The resident of the home, one of his friends, and the three defendants now stood on the front steps engaged in a verbal altercation with Curtis Ashford and two of his friends. After exchanging words for some time, Ashford and one of his friends started to walk down East 8th Street away from the five men. The five men, including the three defendants, followed them and began to pursue them. Ashford tried to take cover inside another residence, but was unable to get inside the locked door.

Ashford became engaged in a fistfight with one of the defendant’s friends. After a few minutes of fighting, Mendes allegedly handed a knife to Holloman and told him to stab Ashford.

Holloman stabbed Ashford multiple times in the chest and abdomen and then, with Mendes and Hemingway, assaulted Ashford’s friend, kicking and punching him in the head and face.

The three assailants fled the scene and disposed of the knife in a sewer. Hemingway allegedly drove Holloman and Mendes from the scene in his car and harbored them in the aftermath of the stabbing.

Ashford was later transported to Boston Medical Center, where he died of his injuries; his friend suffered serious injuries but survived.

The three defendants were later identified and apprehended by Boston Police officers on June 8, 2008.

Holloman was represented by attorney Peter Muse. Mendes is charged with first-degree murder as a joint venturer in Ashford’s death. Hemingway is charged as an accessory after the fact. Both are expected to return to Superior Court for a pre-trial hearing on January 14.