Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ex-convict gets 3 years in vicious sucker-punch death

James Beach

James Beach

Updated Tuesday, April 10, 2018 | 11 p.m.

A man who last year threw an unprovoked sucker punch outside a bar in downtown Las Vegas, fatally injuring a California man, will serve three to 10 years in prison, according to court records.

James Beach, who had originally faced a murder charge, pleaded guilty in February to voluntary manslaughter, Clark County District Court records show.

Beach is an ex-convict with a violent criminal history, having been convicted of attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon in a 2008 shooting.

Luis Campos was standing outside the Vanguard Lounge, 516 Fremont St., about 1:30 a.m. on April 30, 2017, when he was approached by a stranger, later identified as Beach, and punched in the head, according to Metro Police.

Campos, a 45-year-old married father of five, was visiting Las Vegas, where he was to be a best man at his brother’s wedding. He was rushed to University Medical Center but died four days later from a traumatic brain injury.

Beach, also known as James Michael Garcia, was arrested about a week after the attack.

Campos’ family members had wanted Beach to serve more time.

“I want him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the victim’s wife, Julie Campos, told reporters a day after Beach’s arrest. “It brings me a little peace of mind that he’s off the street and he won’t do it to another family.”

Beach was released from Nevada state prison in September 2014 after serving more than four years for attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon in a November 2008 shooting that left a 19-year-old man wounded in the heart and another man wounded in the groin.