A man who allegedly fatally stabbed his girlfriend in East Palo Alto told a judge on Wednesday that he wants to plead guilty, the San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
Richard Earl Slaughter, 48, told Superior Court Judge Mark Forcum during his arraignment that he does not need an attorney and he wants to plead guilty to murder.
Forcum pointed out the seriousness of the charges and told Slaughter that he should have a lawyer, Slaughter said he understood and just wanted a lawyer to help him fill out the paperwork to plead guilty, Wagstaffe said.
Slaughter is accused of killing 47-year-old Philomena Ashford-Anderson in her Newell Road apartment on Aug. 12. The drug and substance-abuse counselor was found stabbed to death in an unusual case in which Slaughter told police about a body after he was arrested for drunken driving in Redwood City.
Slaughter faces charges of murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, driving under the influence, and carrying a loaded firearm in a public place. His is a three-strikes case. If he pleads guilty, he could face 75 years to life “at best,” Wagstaffe said.
Slaughter, who lived with Ashford-Anderson for seven months, allegedly stabbed and slashed her out of an unjustified jealousy over another man after becoming upset over cell-phone calls she received, Wagstaffe said. He ultimately slashed her throat. Slaughter then downed a bottle of hard liquor and drove off with the victim’s gun, which she kept for protection.
He drove to Redwood City and was arrested at 9:31 p.m. for driving under the influence after veering into two cars and injuring the occupant of one of the vehicles. After being treated at a local hospital, Slaughter was booked at the San Mateo County Jail at around 3:30 a.m.
Police stated that shortly thereafter Slaughter provided them with information that led them to an apartment on 45 Newell Road in East Palo Alto. They found Ashford-Anderson dead inside, with multiple stab wounds to her upper torso.
The court appointed the Private Defender Program to represent Slaughter, and after speaking with the calendar attorney, he stopped talking.
“My guess is that by next week he will have had a proper discussion with the public defender. He is looking at spending the rest of his life locked up if he goes that route (pleading guilty), Wagstaffe said.
No plea was entered, and the case was continued to Aug. 22 for a plea hearing and to appoint an attorney.
The incident is the second time Slaughter has been involved in a stabbing case. In 1999, he pleaded to two counts of felony assault and one count of false imprisonment reduced from attempted murder. He spent 14 years in prison and was paroled only about two years ago, Wagstaffe said.
It is rare for a defendant to directly plead guilty to murder in court, he said. “It’s almost never,” he said.
He recalled one other case when a woman from Stanford School of Medicine killed her 14-year-old son and pleaded guilty.
“That was abberational,” Wagstaffe said.
She was sentenced to 35 years to life and is still in prison, he said,
Horrible. It reduces our whole community that someone should have to have that kind of end. I was going to say something about the death penalty, but maybe questioning why we cannot get people like this out of our communities. I also really do hate to say it but what could social scientists do by using NSA phone data merged with other information to find out if or how networks of violence operate and are propagated and if it would be possible to dampen them out over time by non-violent means that was more cost effective. What a tragic story.
nsa is using data to track you,not some criminals necessarily. they have plans for everyone,nefarious plans indeed. if youve been in jail, you will know that nobody is safe from monsters that work in the jails. go there and see for yourself. very scary.
police are asking personal questions about people that have nothing to do with you but you may b have known them at one time.if you dont answer,police may not let you go until you give personal adress of friend you havent seen in years and know nothing about anymore. they may hsave asked questions about anyone including online editors. if you know someone casually for a reference, police may ask where that person works and lives! if you knew that an online editor could identify you as someone they have seen before around town, the police may ask questions about that editor. you are being monitored even if youve never commited a crime.