Guilty verdict for man who killed 2, injured 2 in stabbing rampage at Carmichael recovery center
A Sacramento County jury on Thursday found a man guilty of murder and attempted murder in a knife attack on four people at a Wellness and Recovery Center four years ago in Carmichael.
Martin Raymond Lackey-Garcia, 43, was convicted of two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in the 2020 attack the Carmichael center, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday in a news release.
The county treatment center, in the 3600 block of Mission Avenue, offers help to those spiraling into homelessness and mental health issues. Lackey-Garcia had been referred to seek treatment there.
Lackey-Garcia was prosecuted for the stabbing deaths of 53-year-old Eileen Stanwick and 57-year-old Paul McIntyre, the latter a blind intern at the center. He also was convicted of attempted murder for the stabbings of receptionist Tracy Drake and center director Charles McLellan.
In his opening statement to the jury last month, Deputy District Attorney Frederick Gotha said Lackey-Garcia made an unplanned trip to meet with Elizabeth Waits, a rehabilitation mentor, the day of the attack. The prosecutor said Waits met with Lackey-Garcia one-on-one and saw his demeanor become “aggressive” and “belligerent.”
Waits was alarmed and emailed her colleagues a single line: “HELP,” according to a prosecution exhibit displayed in court. Waits testified in the trial that she had never in her 18 years of practice ever encountered an aggressive patient like Lackey-Garcia.
Stanwick, who received the email from Waits asking for help, began trying to help Lackey-Garcia during the appointment. About 30 seconds to a minute later, screams rang out, the prosecutor said.
“Mr. Lackey-Garcia went to this place of healing, hope and wellness and recovery,” Gotha said. “... He brought a knife into this place and turned it into bloody hell.”
The defendant legally represented himself in his trial. He told the jury he acted in self-defense and never intended to hurt anyone. He claimed the prosecution’s evidence had “abnormalities,” including a video of him attacking the center’s director that he called a “deep fake.”
“They are trying to change the events that happened,” Lackey-Garcia told the jury in his opening statement last month.
Since the 1990s, Lackey-Garcia has rotated between state and county correctional facilities for domestic violence, drug possession and assault convictions. An investigation by The Sacramento Bee found county workers either missed or miscalculated Lackey-Garcia’s violent criminal history. They then referred him to the Wellness and Recovery Center, which primarily treats “low-intensity” cases.
Prosecutors said in Friday’s news release that Lackey-Garcia became enraged and attacked the counselor, Stanwick, stabbing her multiple times.
The receptionist, Drake, tried to save Stanwick, but Lackey-Garcia stabbed her multiple times, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Drake survived her stabbing injuries, including fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.
After stabbing Drake, Lackey-Garcia entered the building courtyard and chased other employees at the center, prosecutors said. One of those employees, the center’s director McLellan, fell to ground while trying to flee to safety. Prosecutors said McLellan was stabbed in the back, and his arm was slashed. He survived but suffered serious injuries, including a severed artery.
As center employees escaped from the building, Lackey-Garcia went back into the office and fatally stabbed McIntyre, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Lackey-Garcia then exited the building and was soon after taken into custody by law enforcement officials.
On Friday afternoon, Lackey-Garcia remained in custody at the Sacramento County Jail. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 8 in Sacramento Superior Court.
Prosecutors said Lackey-Garcia faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
