Suburban man gets 14 years for fatal stabbing

A former Westmont man was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for fatally stabbing a neighbor during a drunken dispute in their apartment parking lot.

Lewis J. Watson pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder charges. He faced probation or up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors originally charged Watson, 35, with first-degree murder for the Sept. 10, 2005 stabbing of Paulius Liandsbergas on the 6000 block of Vail Drive.

Liandsbergas, 22, died three days later from a single stab wound, which punctured his heart and a lung. His family was too distraught to attend court, but his mother wrote a letter to the judge in which she described her son's love of his new life and the family's pain of losing him.

"Paulius came to America when he was 18 and started a really hard life," Jonyta Liandsbergiene wrote in a statement read in court. "Usually working two jobs, he was only sleeping a couple hours a day. After spending a year here, he called America home. Right now, he would have been an American citizen."

She added: "All we want is justice."

The fatal encounter began when an armed Watson left his apartment to investigate an argument he overheard involving some friends in the parking lot. The two men did not know each other, but tensions had grown between Liandsbergas and other neighbors after he overheard some of them utter disrespectful comments about his girlfriend. Watson was not involved in the earlier disputes.

Prosecutor Michael Pawl said Watson stabbed Liandsbergas, in front of several witnesses, then returned to his apartment, washed the knife clean and later tried to hide the weapon. Police arrested him that night. Watson provided police with a videotaped confession. Police recovered the knife.

Watson argued he stabbed Liandsbergas in self defense, said his attorney, Tony Coco, a senior assistant public defender. Some witnesses reported Liandsbergas came at Watson; a second discarded knife was found. The victim also had a blood-alcohol level of .40, five times the legal limit of alcohol.

DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell agreed the conflicting eyewitness testimony made it impossible to know what really happened that night, but she also noted it wasn't Watson's first violent offense. He had three prior felony convictions for cocaine possession, obstructing justice and aggravated fleeing.

Watson read an apology letter in court to the slain man's family. In the nearly three years since he's been in jail, Watson has attended about 500 self-help and religious classes. Before the crime, he was in counseling for alcoholism. Several of his family members and friends, many of whom were in court, wrote supportive letters on his behalf to the judge. He sought mercy.

"My actions that night do not define who I am," said Watson, a father of four. "I do care about life and my choices would be different if I could go back to that night."

Watson will be eligible for parole after serving half of the prison term. He also receives credit for the time he has served in jail awaiting trial.