Man sentenced to prison for fatal stabbing at Tacoma apartment during argument over loan
A man was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison Tuesday for stabbing a person to death last year at a downtown Tacoma apartment complex.
Raymond Manues, 36, pleaded guilty in Pierce County Superior Court to first-degree manslaughter in the July 8, 2021 fatal stabbing of Victor Martin Lee Davis, 44. According to charging documents, the incident occurred during an argument over $500 the victim reportedly owed Manues for the purchase of a scooter. Manues was punched during the altercation.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Evans sentenced Manues to seven years, 10 months in prison, a term that was within the standard sentencing range.
The sentencing was part of a plea deal between prosecutors and the defendant. Manues was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Deputy prosecutor Mark Sanchez wrote in a court filing that the deal took into account risks associated with a jury trial and a self-defense claim. The prosecutor wrote that the incident involved “mutual combat” between Manues and the victim, and that witnesses described both men as threatening each other.
In his guilty-plea statement, Manues said the victim initiated a physical confrontation with him and that he pulled his knife out of fear the other man had a weapon.
“When Mr. Davis punched me, it caused my body to spin and the knife struck Mr. Davis under his arm,” Manues wrote.
Manues later told police the knife was a brass knuckles weapon with a fixed-blade knife attached. According to the probable cause document, he went to his apartment after the stabbing and asked a friend to take it.
According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, the victim was visiting a friend at the apartment complex in the 700 block of Commerce Street, and he was going to get food when Manues recognized him outside. The defendant later told Tacoma Police Department detectives that he asked Davis if he had the $500 he’d loaned him months earlier. This upset Davis, who reportedly started to yell at Manues and threatened to beat him up.
A witness captured a short video clip of the confrontation.
“At one point the victim struck the defendant in the face and at almost the same time the defendant struck the victim in the left side with what appeared to be a large knife that was in his right hand,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Police were called to the scene at about 5 p.m., and officers found Davis slumped in a chair in the lobby of the apartment complex. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.
The same evening, Manues’ stepfather called police and said Manues had called him saying that he had stabbed someone. According to the probable cause document, Manues decided to turn himself in after talking to his mother.
