Prosecutors said that, a former actor who once played the character of one of the Power Rangers in the children’s superhero television series has pleaded guilty for stabbing his roommate to death with a sword.
According to a statement by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, Ricardo Medina, aged 38, entered the plea on Thursday in the Antelope Valley court, admitting that he killed Josh Sutter after the two had a dispute at a Green Valley home in the January 2015. Prosecutors said that, he faces up to six years in the state prison.
Medina was charged with the first-degree murder in January 2016, one year after the fatal clash. The investigators said that Medina and Sutter had argued over the way Medina’s girlfriend had parked her car minutes before the stabbing.
Investigators also said that, as the argument continued, Sutter forced his way into the Medina’s room. Medina grabbed a sword which he kept by the door and stabbed Sutter multiple times before calling 911.
Medina initially claimed that he acted in self-defense. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, when asked by a reporter in the year 2016 why it waited a year to charge Medina, they did not offer an explanation. According to Medina’s IMDb.com profile, Medina was mostly known for portraying the Red Lion Wild Force Ranger in the famous children’s show “Power Rangers Wild Force” from 2002 to 2003. He also played the villainous character Deker in the show “Power Rangers Samurai” in 2011 and 2012.
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In a plea agreement, the prosecutors reduced murder charge to voluntary manslaughter in return for Medina’s guilty plea.
Medina’s attorney, Stanley Friedman, said that it made sense for his client to plead guilty given that he could have faced life imprisonment if he was convicted of the original first-degree murder charge.
Sutter, aged 36, moved to Los Angeles in the year 2011 to help his sister, Rachel Kennedy. Kennedy open a business specializing in the sale of rescued dogs. Kennedy said that, it is the home where the stabbing took place, and Medina began living at the home after she hired him to care for the animals.
Kennedy also said that, Medina began to act erratically not long after he was hired. The two argued frequently and also at one point he threatened to release the dogs into the wild, she said.
She said that, though she did not think six years would be a long enough prison sentence, but she was relieved to finally hear Medina admit guilt in the grisly slaying.
Thursday would have been her brother’s 38th birthday, she said.
Mrudula Duddempudi.
