Posted on Fri, May. 30, 2008
Taj stabber admits manslaughter, claims self-defense
By REGINA SCHAFFER Staff Writer
Press of Atlantic City
MAYS LANDING - Vicente Perez did not mean to stab a man to death following a fight that began at a casino poker table in Atlantic City, he told a Superior Court judge Thurs-day.
Perez, 57, who pleaded guilty to the charge of reckless manslaughter, waived his right to have the case presented to a grand jury for indictment. The plea comes just eight weeks after the stabbing outside the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort that killed Arthur Prince, 61, of Toms River. Attorneys on both sides agreed Thursday that Perez was acting in self-defense.
Perez, a self-employed truck driver from Macon, Ga., will be sentenced Aug. 1 to as many as five years in prison, and must serve 85 percent of that sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He will be subject to three years of parole supervision after his release. He has no prior record except for a minor municipal theft charge from 30 years ago.
Perez, a thin, clean-shaven man with gray hair, was charged April 6 with aggravated manslaughter following an argument he had with Prince at a poker table inside the Taj Mahal, authorities said.
Both men stepped out of the casino and into the valet parking area of the garage near the Virginia Avenue entrance, where the argument became violent. Perez told Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury on Thursday that he used a pocket knife to stab Prince in the neck - after Prince beat him in the face several times with a cane, he said.
"And he was a large man?" asked Perez's attorney, James Leonard Jr.
"Yes, larger ... much, much bigger than I was," said Perez, who had a thick Cuban accent and spoke quietly.
"I stabbed him in the back and neck," Perez said.
An autopsy determined that Prince died from a wound to the left cheek that severed a carotid artery and caused him to bleed to death. The knife was recovered at the scene, authorities said.
As a condition of the plea, the charge was amended from aggravated manslaughter to reckless manslaughter, a second-degree crime, and the charges of unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose will be dropped, said First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik, who represented the state.
"(Perez) had an honest but unreasonable belief that the use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself when Prince was assaulting him with a cane," Talasnik said. "And such conduct is described in our case law as imperfect self-defense, a form of reckless manslaughter."
Leonard asked Perez if he was remorseful for the crime.
"Yes, I am," Perez said. "I didn't mean to do what I did."
After the hearing, Leonard said he felt Perez had a "very viable" self-defense case that could have successfully gone to trial - but Perez didn't want to take the chance at his age of getting an unsympathetic jury, he said.
Perez, who Leonard said is not in the best of health, could have faced as many as 30 years in prison if he was convicted at trial of the original aggravated manslaughter charge.
"He was anxious to resolve the matter," Leonard said. "It's a tremendous (plea) deal, reasonable under the circumstances."
Leonard said he will argue at sentencing that Perez be sentenced under guidelines for a third-degree crime, which is between three and five years.
A number of Prince's family members were in the courtroom Thursday morning. One woman wiped away tears as she left the courtroom. The family declined comment to a reporter.
Leonard said Perez's family was unable to fly in to attend the plea hearing but that they would attend the August sentencing.
Perez remains in the Atlantic County Jail. He will be sentenced Aug. 1 at 1:30 p.m. in front of Superior Court Judge Albert Garofolo.  |