Family to fight parole

Bill Gang

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997 | 9:04 a.m.

An 18-year-old Las Vegas killer saw the handwriting on the wall at his sentencing for the shooting death of his 15-year-old girlfriend, but it was too late.

Manuel Arias had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with the agreement that he would receive a life prison term with the possibility of parole after 20 years. That was the sentence he was given Wednesday, but his prison stay may last much longer.

The victim's mother, Barbara Rickermann, said that by killing her daughter Arias had become an unwelcome member of the family and they'd never forget him while he is behind bars.

"He's a member we didn't invite in," Rickermann told District Judge Mark Gibbons, as other family members sat in the back of the courtroom sobbing.

She vowed that the family would follow Arias through his years in prison and show up at each of his Parole Board hearings and fight against his release.

She said that when she becomes too old for the Parole Board pilgrimages, the young members of the family will take up the cause.

Dania Rickermann was killed in July 1996 in a vacant apartment at 1932 Cindysue St., near Vegas and Rancho drives. Police were led to the body by the girl's 14-year-old friend, who had been stabbed repeatedly during the same early morning incident.

Arias, whose tattoos across the back of his neck peeked out above his jail uniform, didn't like what he heard and told Gibbons that he now wants to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial.

"They told me I would be out in 15 years," fumed Arias, who had entered his guilty plea through a legal provision that does not require him to admit responsibility for the act, but only concede that the state could prove its case.

Arias's position was fueled by indications from Deputy District Attorney David Roger that there may have been problems getting a conviction if the case had gone to a jury.

But he added that had the case gone to trial, the district attorney's office might have sought the death penalty for Arias.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Brooks said that because the incident involved the murder and stabbing of two teenage girls, "I have no doubt it would have been hard for a jury to show my client any mercy."

"He made horrible, horrible, terrible decisions," Brooks said, but added that the Rickermann family should realize a man can change after 20 years in prison.

Arias, speaking through an interpreter, said he still wants to withdraw his guilty plea.

In formalizing the sentence and rejecting Arias' last-minute move, Gibbons conceded that the family "will be living with Manuel Arias for the rest of their lives."