Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Man sentenced in fatal stabbing

Defendant receives up to four years in prison

Abimael Azmitia-Montalvos is sentenced to prison Tuesday in District Court for the April stabbing of a man. Photo by Gary Thompson.

A man who fatally stabbed another man during a chaotic scene on Charleston Boulevard in April was sent to prison for up to four years on Tuesday.

"No one has any respect for human life ... too many people in this community think life is cheap," District Judge Joseph Bonaventure said as he sentenced Abimael Azmitia-Montalvos to 19 to 48 months in prison for the killing of Troy Payton, 32.

According to authorities and court records, Payton's death unfolded shortly after Azmitia-Montalvos whistled at a 15-year-old girl outside his apartment at the Sunrise Vista Executive Suites, near the U.S. Highway 95 off-ramp at Charleston Boulevard.

A group of men then surrounded Azmitia-Montalvos, who then was punched in the face and knocked to the ground. He eventually retreated to his apartment.

Eventually, someone began pounding on Azmitia-Montalvos' door, and the defendant emerged with a knife and stabbed Payton in the torso. Payton died at the scene.

Azmitia-Montalvos was originally charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon. He subsequently entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in May.

In court Tuesday, Clark County prosecutor Tom Carroll said the police investigation revealed "inconsistencies from one witness statement to another" as to exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the stabbing.

Carroll also said Azmitia-Montalvos had been deported just a month before the stabbing, but returned to the United States despite an immigration judge's order not to do so.

"It wasn't a case of self-defense," Carroll said.

But defense attorney Joseph Abood of the Clark County Public Defender's Office said his client felt he was in imminent danger. For example, Abood said Azmitia-Montalvos repeatedly told police after the stabbing that he had seen Payton with a knife.

Police were skeptical, but a knife was found with the victim's body in a body bag at the coroner's office.

Azmitia-Montalvos, who had a prior arrest record for assault and domestic violence in Colorado, asked the judge to place him on probation, saying he feared for both himself and his pregnant wife, who had been inside his apartment at the time of the stabbing.

Bonaventure declined the request for probation, saying Azmitia-Montalvos had to be punished.

"Troy Payton is dead, he's dead for eternity," Bonaventure said. "He (the defendant) has got to pay somewhat."