A 44-year-old Alexandria man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the February stabbing death of 37-year-old Calvin Lee Jr., closing out a case that began with a second-degree murder charge and a late-night 911 call on Bolton Avenue. Michael Steven Hargrove entered the plea on November 4, and a sentencing date has already been set for next month.
According to the Alexandria Police Department, officers responded to a stabbing in the 700 block of Bolton Avenue at approximately 12:29 a.m. on February 19. Responding officers found Lee suffering from a stab wound and rushed him to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries, police said. Hargrove was arrested in connection with the case and initially charged with one count of second-degree murder, according to the department.
Plea Deal Reduces Charge Ahead of December Sentencing
Nearly nine months after Lee's death, Hargrove pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, according to seed reporting from The Town Talk. Hargrove is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16, per Rapides Parish Clerk of Court records cited in that report. The outlet's account does not detail the factual basis presented at the plea hearing or indicate what sentence prosecutors intend to seek.
Under Louisiana law, manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 40 years at hard labor, according to statutory text published by the Louisiana State Legislature. That same statutory excerpt also lays out a separate minimum-sentence provision that applies when a victim is under age 10, though it does not speak to how any sentencing provision would apply in Hargrove's case specifically.
A Second Rapides Parish Manslaughter Case Winds Through Court
Hargrove's plea is one of at least two manslaughter cases moving through Rapides Parish courts around the same period. The same seed report notes that Bryan Oneal Johnson, 55, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 53-year-old Billy Louis Stanley of Oakdale, with sentencing in that separate case scheduled for Jan. 21.
Lee's death in February marked the start of a case that has now reached its next stage, with the outcome to be determined when Hargrove returns to court next month.
