Caesars Palace Standoff Suspect Pleads Guilty, Apologizes in Court
Posted on: August 18, 2023, 09:00h.
Last updated on: August 18, 2023, 12:07h.
A man accused of holding a woman hostage as he tossed furnishings out of the window of a Caesars Palace Las Vegas hotel room pled guilty on Thursday.
Matthew Mannix, 36, entered the pleas to two charges: malicious destruction of property and performance of an act or neglect of duty in willful or wanton disregard of safety or persons or property.
His Las Vegas-based lawyer, David Roger, said Mannix has an issue with drugs, Las Vegas TV station KVVU reported.
Mr. Mannix is very sorry for his conduct which led to his arrest,” Roger said during the court appearance. “He will continue to work to address his drug addiction.”
Mannix allegedly smoked methamphetamine (meth) while in the Caesars Palace room.
He and the woman “both were clearly under the influence of narcotics and experiencing drug-induced paranoia (around the time of the incident),” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers wrote in an arrest report, Las Vegas TV station KSNV reported.
Plea Deal
The incident took place on July 11 when guests reported hearing shots being fired toward the hotel’s pool.
Police arrived and touched off a standoff with Mannix lasting for more than five hours. At one point, he threatened that he had “a magazine full of rounds and that he would pull the trigger,” KVVU reported. The woman being held by Mannix said he also had a knife.
During the standoff, Mannix threatened to shoot officers and cut the tongue out of the woman’s mouth, police said.
Two of the initial charges against Mannix were dropped under the plea deal. The dropped counts included first-degree kidnapping and coercion with a deadly weapon.
Mannix remains at the Clark County Detention Center as of Friday. When he’s sentenced on September 28, he faces more than five years in prison and fines of up to $12K. He also must pay the hotel’s parent company, Caesars Entertainment, $55,292.01 for damage to the window, furniture, room, and other locations on the property.
Mannix will also be ordered not to return to the casinos along the Las Vegas Strip. The weapons he had with him during the incident will be kept by police.
Feared for Life
The woman revealed to police she did not flee from the Caesars Palace hotel room because she feared for her life.
She also said Mannix had led her to believe he was an actor employed by MTV.
Mannix also has charges pending in Colorado, where he formerly lived.
Related News Articles
Source: casino.org
