HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man accused in the fatal stabbing of a woman in 2021 is set to take a plea deal with the government.
Less than a week before John Richard Bass III was scheduled to stand trial on murder charges related to a June 2021 stabbing, he appeared in the Superior Court of Guam on Thursday morning for a pretrial conference.
The assigned judge, Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena III, however, when asking attorneys if jury selection and trial was still going to move forward, was made aware Bass was set to sign a plea agreement offered by the Office of the Attorney General.
Bass’ attorney, Assistant Alternate Public Defender Peter Santos, told The Guam Daily Post after the hearing that Bass would be pleading guilty to manslaughter. Santos explained Bass is aware of the terms of the agreement and all that is left is his signature.
As a result, Lamorena scheduled Bass to appear in court at 10 a.m. Monday.
Stabbing
Following the stabbing death of Virginia Rose Peredo Laguana on June 6, 2021, Bass was charged with murder as a first-degree felony and two counts of aggravated assault as a second-degree felony, both including special allegations of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
Court documents state Laguana was stabbed more than a dozen times at the Mai’Ana Airport Plaza in Tamuning, where officers with the Guam Police Department arrived to find Laguana drenched in blood as her 19-year-old daughter cradled her in her arms. Laguana’s daughter also was stabbed while trying to defend her mother, but survived.
The charge of manslaughter as a first-degree felony is defined by Guam law as a homicide that is committed recklessly under the influence of “extreme mental or emotional disturbance” or when it is done while under the influence of a Schedule II controlled substance.
John Richard Bass III
Officers with the Guam Police Department investigate the fatal stabbing of a 39-year-old woman on Sunday, June 6, 2021, at the Hotel Mai’ana in Tamuning.
