A 38-year-old Downey man pleaded no contest yesterday afternoon for fatally stabbing a Long Beach man earlier this year, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
William Johnson pleaded no contest to a felony count of voluntary manslaughter, and also admitted a special allegation that he personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, identified as a knife.
Prosecutor and Deputy District Attorney Don Syn said that Johnson and victim Darin Sivley, 53, of Long Beach, were at a friend’s house in Norwalk when Sivley began to irritate the homeowner, who wanted him to leave.
Johnson pulled out a knife and stabbed Sivley in the upper arm, leaving him with a puncture that severed a major artery. Sivley began bleeding profusely, the prosecutor said.
Sivley placed a tourniquet on his arm and left the home on his bicycle to go to the hospital, but he collapsed on the street and died. Two days after the incident, Johnson was arrested in connection with Sivley’s death and held on $1M bail.
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced November 24 and is expected to be sentenced to 12 years in state prison.