A Woodland man was sentenced to seven years in state prison Monday in connection with a bar stabbing that resulted in the death of a friend-turned-rival.
Jeffrey Lemus, 56, was convicted in May of voluntary manslaughter for the Dec. 5, 2015, fatal stabbing of Kelly Mason Choate. A Yolo County jury acquitted Lemus of both first- and second-degree murder before arriving at the lesser verdict.
Lemus had faced a maximum of 11 years in prison at his sentencing hearing in Yolo Superior Court Judge David Reed’s courtroom.
Testimony at Lemus’ two-week trial revealed that the defendant and victim had once been friends, but the relationship soured after Choate allegedly stole Lemus’ bike. After that, the two would exchange words whenever they encountered one another around town.
On the night of the stabbing, the two verbally sparred once again at Kenny’s Bar and Grill on East Street, where Lemus pulled out a large knife and stabbed Choate in the chest when the victim rushed at him with his fists raised near the barroom doorway.
While prosecutors argued that Lemus killed the 53-year-old Choate willfully, deliberately and with premeditation after Choate cursed and disrespected him, Lemus maintained that Choate was known to carry a knife of his own and that he acted in self-defense.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene