LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Clearlake man has entered a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of another man last May.
Darrell Vernon Sidwell, 58, entered the plea this week, according to his attorney, Stephen Carter.
“I am extremely pleased with this disposition because my client no longer faces the possibility of life in prison, instead, he will be out of prison in four years,” said Carter of the Law Offices of Carter & Carter in Lower Lake.
Sidwell was arrested in May 2013 for the stabbing of 43-year-old Brad Beaudion of Clearlake, as Lake County News has reported.
On the evening of May 9, 2013, Clearlake Police officers were dispatched to Beaudion's Park Street residence, where they found him outside with a stab wound to the stomach, according to the original police report on the case.
Beaudion was able to identify the person who stabbed him as “Darrell” before he was unable to speak further. Police said he was transported to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake and died later that night.
Based on the investigation, police concluded that the two men had argued earlier in the evening over a boat located near Sidwell’s residence and led to a physical confrontation, during which Sidwell stabbed Beaudion with a knife.
As a result of the plea, Sidwell will be sentenced to six years in prison rather than facing the potential of life in prison for the killing, Carter said. With his custody credits, he will be out of prison in four years.
Carter said the defense toxicologist located illegal drugs and prescription drugs in the victim’s blood and a significant amount of alcohol in Sidwell's blood.
“In order to prove this was a premeditated murder, the prosecutor would have to prove that my client had the ability to form the specific intent to kill the victim,” Carter said. “Under the law, extreme intoxication can negate the ability to form a specific intent to kill.”
Carter said the additional charges of murder and assault, a special allegation for use of a deadly weapon and a second special allegation alleging great bodily injury were all dismissed.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.