Two plead guilty in July stabbing death on Strip
Two men pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter charges for their roles in a July stabbing death on the Strip.
Jerome Hopkins and Christopher Mcintosh previously faced murder charges in the slaying of 25-year-old Randall "BP" Blackwell.
Blackwell was stabbed in the heart July 9 up the block from Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon, near Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road. His death a week later brought the number of summertime homicides on the Strip to four.
Hopkins, 38, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon. He remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center.
Mcintosh, 39, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was released on house arrest.
District Judge Jessie Walsh is scheduled to sentence both defendants April 11.
Authorities said a fight erupted before the stabbing. An officer was flagged down and witnessed the fight.
The officer was able to call for backup and then arrest Hopkins and Mcintosh but not before Blackwell and another man were stabbed. The other man's injury was not life-threatening.
A knife was recovered from the roof of Battista's Hole in the Wall Italian restaurant after a witness told police he saw Mcintosh throw a knife there.
Hopkins told police he was being assaulted by five men when Mcintosh interceded, but witnesses said Hopkins was "punching" Blackwell in the chest when others tried to break it up.
Blackwell's friends flagged down a patrol cruiser after they realized he had been stabbed.
According to court records, Hopkins and Mcintosh have criminal histories that include several felony convictions over the past two decades.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.
