Plea bargain made in fatal stabbing of LV man

Bill Gang

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000 | 10:03 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who stabbed two men -- killing one -- during a confrontation over a laser light that was being pointed around an apartment complex has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

Lorne Richardson, 25, avoided the possibility of a life prison term should he have been convicted of the original first-degree murder charge he was facing over the May 23 incident.

Richardson pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder in a plea bargain that will give him an outside chance at probation.

Prosecutors said they won't oppose the minimum prison sentence, which would keep the defendant behind bars for four years before he would be eligible for parole. Sentencing is set for Feb. 7 in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom.

Defense attorney Robert Langford had contended early in the case that the stabbings were in self defense, but Richardson chose to take the plea bargain rather than risk the possibility of a harsh prison term if convicted of first- or second-degree murder.

At Richardson's preliminary hearing in September, Jason Grizzle testified that he thought the 2:30 a.m. confrontation at the southwest Las Vegas apartment complex had ended when Richardson was punched by Grizzle's two friends, Jason Mann and Tony Spaan.

Those two had ordered Richardson not to use the laser light.

But he said the defendant wouldn't let the incident rest and pursued them outside the pool area at the Polo Club Apartments, 4201 S. Decatur Blvd., according to the testimony.

Grizzle said that as he was walking away a moment later, he felt what he originally believed was a punch in the back of his neck, but quickly realized that he had been stabbed.

In response to the stabbing, Spaan said he and Mann again punched Richardson and knocked him to the ground beneath some bushes, where Mann fell on top of him to continue the fight.

Spaan recalled how Mann emerged from the altercation with stab wounds to his chest and stomach.

"He could hardly breathe," Grizzle said. "He was just holding his chest ... and gurgling." Mann later died.