Las Vegas Strip Fatal Punch Leads to Prison in Retired State Trooper’s Death

The one-time pugilist who threw a virulent plug finally yr on the Las Vegas Strip was sentenced to anyplace 'tween octet and 20 years inwards prison. The fateful blow led to the last of a 57-year-old retired Connecticut River say trooper.

The sentence for Brandon Leath, 34, was announced Friday by Las Vegas District Judge Michelle Leavitt. She also ordered him to pay off restitution.

Leath had pled shamefaced to voluntary manslaughter and mayhem in the Feb. 28, 2021 attack on the ex-trooper, doubting Thomas Driscoll. It took position outdoors of Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

Earlier, Leath pled not guilty to murder inward the case. That charge was later dropped.

“What is so enlighten hither is this wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t simply tough luck,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Dickerson said inwards courtyard before the sentencing, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. “The defendant was seeking out this confrontation. He was seeking come out this fight.”

Driscoll’s last was dictated to follow a homicide. An post-mortem examination revealed Driscoll died from a point-blank personnel cranciocervical injury. That is an accidental injury nigh the mean of the skull, the Mark Clark County coroner’s business office explained.

The incident began when Leath was with several men on a earthbound nosepiece betwixt The Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and Bally’s. Driscoll was walking with a woman by the crowd.

Initially, Leath commented on the 2 passersby. He and so ran after them and encouraged Driscoll to fight. Leath went to the bottom of the inning of an escalator.

When Driscoll was nearby, Leath punched him once. The impact led Driscoll to strike on his back. type A short time later, Driscoll died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

Leath soon was apprehended past constabulary officers nigh The Mirage.

Mace Yampolsky, the attorney representing Leath, argued on Friday his client only when punched Driscoll after Driscoll threatened him with a beer bottle, the Review-Journal said.

I imagine it’s unfortunate that he was sentenced to the maximum,” Yampolsky later told the newspaper. Yampolsky is a felonious defence force attorney inwards Silver State and is a past tense chairwoman of the Sagebrush State Attorneys for Criminal Justice.

But Annie Chong, Driscoll’s former girlfriend, told KVVU, a local TV station, the condemn was insufficient and is “a miscarriage of justice.”

Leath Said Someone Stalking Him

In March 2021, Leath denied any misconduct inwards connective with Driscoll’s dying and Leath said he was being stalked.

“I get been stalked, and in that respect hold been people that have got been doing a lot of things,” Leath said inward Nevada court of law to a justice shortly after his arrest, according to local tidings reports

“…This is real serious. This is my life. Ma’am, i did not come anything wrong.”

Prior Convictions

Leath has been convicted of six prior felonies, the Review-Journal said. Most stemmed from thefts inward New Jersey. He was registered as a pugilist inward New York State, the story adds.

Also, followers the fatal punch, ii unnamed men told KVVU, a Sagebrush State TV station, that they had tried to written report Leath to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police for an alleged violent onrush and other crimes unrelated to Driscoll.

The ii men alleged Leath was a “ticking time bomb.” Leath allegedly punched I of the two men in a local convenience salt away nigh John C. Fremont Street, the TV describe said.

The piece became unconscious after getting knocked out, the news report claims.

“I feature to escort a physician well-nigh my possible concussion,” the dupe told the TV station. He claims to get from headaches and blurred vision, the study adds.