A Le Mars man had pleaded guilty to reduced charges for a fatal stabbing in a downtown Le Mars apartment and will be sentenced Tuesday. Thirty-six-year-old Jody O’Keefe was scheduled to be tried Tuesday for first-degree murder for the January 24th death of 32-year-old Samuel Toliver of Le Mars.
In court Thursday, O’Keefe said he used a butcher knife to stab Toliver in Toliver’s apartment. O’Keefe’s attorneys told the judge they’d planned a trial defense of intoxication and self-defense. The judge accepted O’Keefe’s guilty pleas to voluntary manslaughter, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and two charges of willful injury.
Based on the plea agreement, he faces up to 40 years in prison. O’Keefe is being held in the Plymouth County Jail.