A Kansas City man was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Friday over a 2023 stabbing that a witness said came during a confrontation over a flashlight, according to court documents.

Phillip Lacy, 35, made an Alford plea to a count of voluntary manslaughter and a count of armed criminal action in Jackson County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 18 years in prison, according to court records. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction if the case went to trial.

A witness reported the victim in the Nov. 10, 2023, incident in Kansas City’s East Community Team South neighborhood had been stabbed 15-20 times, according to court documents. The victim, later identified by police as Bryan Hoover, 52, was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

Police linked Lacy to the stabbing, and he was eventually arrested in March 2024.

Jacob Bedsaul, an attorney for Lacy, declined to comment on Friday.

‘Progressively more jittery’

The witness, who said she was homeless, said she, Hoover and Lacy were using an abandoned, fire-damaged structure near the intersection of East 24th Street and Elmwood Avenue to shelter from the cold. She said shortly before the stabbing, Lacy began smoking meth and became “progressively more jittery and progressively more agitated, which she equated to getting higher,” according to court documents.

She said Lacy wanted to go see a woman but needed a flashlight and began to argue with the victim over a light he had.

She alleged Lacy began to attack the victim and used a screwdriver to stab him several times. She said she attempted to stop Lacy, but he shoved her out of the way and continued the attack. She eventually ran from the building and found someone to call 911.

When Lacy was arrested last year, he denied knowing about the killing and denied being in the vacant building, according to court documents.