Man pleads guilty in Red Rock Resort stabbings
A 25-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of attempted murder after he was accused of stabbing multiple Red Rock Resort employees in August.
Shayne Sussman stabbed two casino workers and attempted to attack another one in the early hours of Aug. 3, prosecutors said. The attack appeared unprovoked, and a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report noted that Sussman appeared to be under the influence. Sussman was shot in the abdomen by a security officer before he was arrested.
He pleaded guilty on Tuesday by entering what is known as an Alford plea, meaning Sussman only admitted that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
“Both parties will be stipulating to prison in this case. He will not be eligible for probation under our agreement,” Sussman’s attorney, Thomas Ericsson, said during the hearing.
Ericsson said that Sussman will face a maximum of 20 years in prison, but that attorneys will be able to present arguments for the minimum length of his sentence.
Sussman had been drinking during a concert he attended at the casino that night. Ericsson has previously said that his client got “so plastered that he clearly loses control of his mind.”
After the concert, Sussman attacked a worker with a knife, stabbing the man’s back, lungs, collarbone and neck, Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Dickerson said. Sussman then attacked the employee’s supervisor, before running into the casino and sitting outside a restaurant.
When security officers approached Sussman, he lunged towards the employees and tried to run from the casino. He also swung the knife at a security officer, “missing him by mere inches,” before an officer shot him, Dickerson said during Tuesday’s court hearing.
District Judge Susan Johnson scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sussman on Nov. 26.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.
