Man pleads guilty in stabbing

PALMER — A Palmer man charged with stabbing another man outside Klondike Mike’s Bar in March has pleaded guilty to assault and evidence tampering.

Johnathan Robert William Gilliam was arrested shortly after the stabbing and charged with two counts of felony assault and evidence tampering. Wednesday he pleaded to the tampering charge and misdemeanor assault.

Superior Court Judge Eric Smith told Gilliam he could get up to two years for tampering and a year for the assault.

The attack occurred in the early morning hours, apparently touched off by a game of pool inside the bar. By the time Palmer police were notified, the victim, Richard Beck, was on the floor of the bar with a stab wound in his chest.

Police talked to Beck, who said that he and a friend had been playing pool with two other men when one of them, later identified as Gilliam, got mad and threw the pool cue on the table. The four then went outside.

A fight broke out. Beck said he started to get the upper hand and Gilliam stabbed him, saying, according to a Palmer police affidavit, “That’s what you get.”

Later that day, Gilliam and his friend walked into the Palmer Police Department saying they wanted to tell their side of the story. Gilliam told police he was pushed from behind. He turned around to see his friend and Beck’s friend fighting. Gilliam said Beck punched him three times in the face before Gilliam managed to knock him over.

“[Beck] got back up and reached into his jacket. Gilliam said he thought he saw the butt of a gun. He said he wasn’t going to take any chances so he pulled his knife and stabbed the man in the chest,” Palmer Police Officer Jamie Hammons says in an affidavit.

Hammons said another officer eventually recovered the knife used in the stabbing and the pants Gilliam was wearing. The knife had been washed clean, resulting in the tampering charge.

Judge Smith is set to decide on Gilliam’s term of incarceration at hearing March 13.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.