Matthew John Ermond Mannix was sentenced after barricading himself inside a room at Caesars Palace, holding a woman hostage and throwing furniture from a hotel window, causing $50,000 in damages. (Courtroom screenshot from CBS Las Vegas affiliate KLAS)
An ex-fugitive from Colorado who broke a window and threw furniture from a room on the 21st floor of Caesars Palace in a drug-fueled hourslong standoff with police was sentenced to prison.
Matthew John Ermond Mannix was sentenced to serve between 19 and 48 months on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to destruction of property and misdemeanor negligence charges as part of the plea agreement in exchange for kidnapping and coercion charges being dropped. He was ordered to pay $55,300 in restitution, stay off the Las Vegas Strip and complete a substance abuse recovery program.
Mannix was also ordered to be transferred to his home state of Colorado, where he faces a probation violation for a kidnapping and domestic violence case, The Associated Press reported. He has a conviction for kidnapping from 2022 in that state.
In court, he apologized for the incident.
"I wasn't in my right mind," he said, the wire service reported.
His attorney, David Roger, said his client had been hallucinating during the July 11 incident after using drugs, the AP reported. Roger said Mannix is being treated while in custody for bipolar disorders and schizophrenia.
"This is a mental health and a drug issue," Roger said. "We all know he made a bad choice to use drugs."
Police said the drama happened that morning. A woman yelled through the door that Mannix had a knife. Police negotiators and SWAT officers were called. Mannix refused to come out or let the woman out. He threatened to cut her tongue if she talked to the police. He taunted officers, opening and closing the hotel room door, claiming he had a gun. He told security he would shoot if anyone entered. He said he had a "magazine full of rounds" and would "pull the trigger."
Mannix broke a window and threw out furniture, sending glass shards, chairs and a desk 21 stories to the pool deck below, causing hotel guests to run in terror.
Hours went by. The standoff ended before 3 p.m. when SWAT officers forced their way into the room, took Mannix into custody and questioned the woman. She was not physically hurt.
The woman told police she had had an on-again, off-again relationship with Mannix, and they had binged on drugs for days. She told investigators she had spent the previous few days with him, living a "transient lifestyle on the Las Vegas Strip." She said she did not leave the room because Mannix had a knife. The woman said that after Mannix smashed the window, she was afraid he would throw her out.
In a jailhouse interview, Mannix told Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS-TV from the Clark County Detention Center that he was sorry and would quit drugs.
"I thought the furniture was pretty, uh, pretty worn out, and I just thought I was going to do everyone a favor by throwing it out the window," Mannix told the station. "I'm never doing drugs again. I'm turning my life around. I'm going to pay for all the damages, and I'm really sorry."
He told KLAS they did a small amount of meth, "enough for like a teenager, not even that much. Maybe, you know, a 12-year-old could've done this much."
Law&Crime's Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.