Man pleads guilty in Palms slaying

A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal shooting inside the Palms earlier this year.

Jim Johnson, 25, faces 1 to 10 years in prison for the May 15 shooting that left Evan Plunkett dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Police said the 25-year-old Plunkett, of Henderson, was shot during a party at the Fantasy Tower with 50 attendees.

Defense attorney Bill Terry has said that Johnson was trying to intervene in a fight and slap a bottle out of Plunkett’s hand when the handgun discharged.

Outside of court Monday, Plunkett’s older brother, Thomas Plunkett, said he suffered head injuries when he tried to stop his brother from being jumped by a group of men, including Johnson.

Johnson, who appeared in court while free on $100,000 bail, also pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell. He is slated to be sentenced Dec. 18.

“I wish he was on his way to jail right now,” Thomas Plunkett, 26, said.

Witnesses told police that the Plunketts and Richard Moore were involved in a fight on a patio near the pool just before Plunkett was shot, according to a police report.

Thomas Plunkett told police that he was fighting with Moore by the pool when he heard a gunshot and saw his brother lying on the ground, the report stated.

Plunkett told the Review-Journal on Monday that he was pistol-whipped in the back of the head by Johnson, and the gun fired. After Evan Plunkett was shot, Johnson punched the elder brother in the face, fracturing his right cheek bone.

“TJ, I’ve been shot,” Evan Plunkett said.

As his brother rushed to his side, most of the others attending the party fled the scene. Thomas Plunkett tried to keep pressure on the wound until paramedics arrived. His brother flat-lined at the hospital, he said, and was briefly revived before he died.

In Monday’s arraignment, District Court hearing master Melisa De La Garza said Johnson could be eligible for probation.

“How could that guy be on probation?” Thomas Plunkett said. “There’s no way it was an accident. … If at most he gets 10 years, how many years did he take away from my brother? That’s my brother’s whole life.”

Their mother, Holly Plunkett, called the plea deal “a travesty of justice.”

Contact reporter David Ferrara at 702-380-1039 or dferrara@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.