Guilty plea entered in shooting death of LV man

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who eluded arrest on a murder charge for 15 months has pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge to resolve the case.

But 28-year-old Noel Peter Bright's guilty plea Wednesday was under a legal provision that does not require him to admit actual wrongdoing but only to escape the possibility of a harsher sentence should he be convicted at a trial.

If he had been convicted of murdering John Richard in the Dec. 13, 1997, shootout, the lightest sentence would have kept him in prison for 40 years before he would have been eligible for parole.

The harshest sentence for voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon is eight to 20 years.

As part of the deal, prosecutors have agreed to make no recommendation when Bright is sentenced on Nov. 16 by District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said Richard's death outside 4305 E. Stewart Ave. was the result of an argument at a private party that "escalated to gunplay."

Richard died from bullets fired from Bright's .25-caliber pistol. A .380-caliber pistol also was fired in the melee, Kane said.

Although Richard was murdered in December 1997, Bright wasn't apprehended until he was tracked down at his girlfriend's North Las Vegas home on Feb. 25 by the Criminal Apprehension Team, a contingent of local law enforcement agencies and the FBI.