Man sentenced in Las Vegas slaying
A man who briefly escaped from an Arizona mental hospital was sentenced Tuesday to 15 to 40 years in prison for fatally stabbing a man in Las Vegas.
District Judge Jackie Glass sentenced James Bates, 37, in the killing of Jose Tony Sanchez during a 2005 bar fight.
Bates had earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and robbery in connection with the killing.
In 2005, authorities were holding Bates at a mental health hospital near downtown Phoenix to see whether he was competent to stand trial in connection with the assault of an Arizona police officer. Authorities said Bates squeezed through metal bars at the facility, scaled a razor wire-topped fence and fled. He was caught a day later.