A man from suburban Philadelphia stabbed his neighbor to death after the killer’s loud snoring led the pair to argue violently, according to authorities.
Christopher Casey, 56, was recently handed a relatively short prison sentence after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 14 January death of 62-year-old Robert Wallace. Casey also pleaded guilty to possessing an instrument of crime to close the book on a case with a motive that has not been too commonly seen in the US justice system.
The two men lived next to each other, sharing a common wall in a duplex home in Upper Morland, Pennsylvania. Wallace ultimately became so annoyed at how loudly and often Casey would snore that he pushed in his neighbor’s first-floor window and threatened to kill him, local prosecutors had previously said in a statement.
Citing police records, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Wallace eventually calmed down and offered to pay for a surgery that would correct Casey’s snoring.
But Casey allegedly did not believe Wallace’s offer of assistance was genuine. He stabbed Wallace several times in the chest with a large, military-style knife before calling police to the home.
Officers arrived to find Wallace on the ground about 50ft away from the duplex. First responders brought him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Meanwhile, Casey was also taken to a hospital to be treated for a stab wound to his right thigh that he inflicted on himself.
Authorities subsequently charged him with third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and possessing an instrument of crime, jailing him in lieu of $1m bail.
Casey then appeared before Pennsylvania state court judge Risa Vetri Ferman on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to reduced charges indicating that he had essentially killed Wallace through unintentional recklessness. In exchange, he accepted a sentence of between 11 and a half and 23 months in prison.
The Inquirer reported that the plea deal allowed for Casey to be free after eight and a half months in custody, of which he has one more to serve before being released to spend three years on probation.
According to the Inquirer, Wallace’s family told Ferman that the slain man had long been unable to sleep due to Casey’s snoring. That had caused so much fatigue in Wallace that it negatively affected his ability to work as well as his personal life, they maintained.
Casey apologized to Wallace’s family, calling the fatal confrontation between him and his neighbor “unfortunate”, the outlet reported.
Nonetheless, Casey’s attorney, James Lyons, said Wallace had repeatedly threatened his client’s life before the fatal stabbing. The Philadelphia Inquirer cited police records which showed officers had responded to multiple calls for disputes between Wallace and Casey over the latter’s snoring.
Lyons told the newspaper that Casey’s autism “makes it difficult to navigate confrontation” for him.
“He was terrified of this guy,” Lyons reportedly said, “and he believed that he had no option.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
