A 31-year-old homeless veteran accepted a 10-year prison sentence Thursday for the stabbing death of a good Samaritan who regularly provided food to homeless people in the community.
Leslie Charles "Less" Webb, a California native, pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter, reduced from first-degree murder, for the April slaying of Willie Traylor III at Webb's campsite in the 1400 block of North Street in Little Rock. Webb had claimed self-defense.
According to police reports, the defendant drew the attention of authorities immediately after the stabbing when a frantic and blood-splattered Webb flagged down a passing patrol car near La Harpe Boulevard and State Street. He told the officers he had just stabbed a man who had tried to hurt him and surrendered a bloody pocketknife. He took officers to his campsite, and they followed a blood trail to the man's body.
Webb said he didn't recognize the man, but upon being told who the victim was, Webb said he did know Traylor, police reports state. Friends said Traylor, an employee of the Pulaski County Special School District, regularly connected with homeless people to help them get food and other necessities. Webb told police Traylor had offered him food before and had once taken him to his home so Webb could shower.
Webb told police he had been awakened by the man shining a light in his face. Webb said he told the man to leave but instead the man became aggressive and grabbed him, despite Webb's warning that he had a knife. Webb said he only stabbed at the man to get him to leave him alone, telling police the fatal wound to the neck was an accident caused when they fell down together while grappling. He said once he realized the man had been seriously hurt, he ran to get help.
Webb got defensive when detectives questioned his version of events and did not find any marks on his body to correspond with his story about how Traylor had grabbed him, according to police reports.
Webb also said Traylor had been carrying a beer can, but none was found at the scene, police said.
Webb denied he was the man who got into the car of a passing motorist on La Harpe. Lucinda Lanford told told police she'd been stopped in traffic near the State Street intersection and saw an agitated man trying to flag down vehicles and open car doors. The man got into her back seat, holding a fountain drink and yelling that someone was trying to kill him, Lanford said.
She jumped out of the vehicle, and the man also fled the car in the direction of the Packet House on Cantrell Road, police said. She told police the man, whom she thought was either high or mentally ill, looked terrified.
Metro on 02/28/2015