Ojai Man Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Ice Pick Stabbing : Courts: Ryan Burchell agrees to the lesser charge to avoid risk of a murder conviction. He faces up to 14 years in prison.

An Ojai man accused of murder in the ice pick killing of another man at a weekend party last month entered a surprise plea of guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in Ventura County Municipal Court.

Ryan Dale Burchell, 19, shrugged to his family and wept softly as he was led back to jail after admitting the May 14 stabbing that killed Jasper Fitzgerald, 19.

He spoke briefly, answering “guilty” when asked how he would plead to the charge of voluntary manslaughter. Burchell had been charged with murder.

Fitzgerald, an Ohio man who grew up in Ojai, died from an ice pick wound that punctured his heart and liver after an altercation with Burchell during a party last month in Ojai. It was Ojai’s first homicide in more than two years.

Deputy Public Defender Todd W. Howeth, who had maintained that Burchell acted in self-defense, said his client opted for the plea to avoid the risk of being found guilty of murder.

“The district attorney made an offer, and rather than face the uncertainty of a trial, he decided to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter,” Howeth said outside court.

Howeth said Fitzgerald attacked Burchell as Burchell was leaving the party and that his client was protecting himself when the stabbing occurred. But, Howeth added, “it was (Burchell’s) own fault because the other person was unarmed.”

Burchell could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted of murder, Howeth said.

Under the plea entered Thursday, however, Burchell can receive three, six, or 11 years in state prison, plus up to three years for admitting the allegations that he used a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime and that he was out on bail at the time, Howeth said.

Burchell was charged earlier this year with possession of marijuana for sale and was awaiting further proceedings in that case at the time of the killing. He pleaded not guilty to the possession charge later Thursday in a separate appearance in Superior Court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley said a plea of voluntary manslaughter “best described the facts” of the Fitzgerald case.

“He was the only one with a weapon,” Frawley said of Burchell. “What should have been a high school fight turned into manslaughter.”

Another man initially arrested for murder after the killing had the ice pick in his car before he and Burchell arrived at the party, Howeth said. Anthony Peterson, 18, already has pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory to murder and faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced June 30. Peterson admitted hiding the ice pick following the death.

According to Howeth, Burchell brought the ice pick into the party after noticing “a couple of people from two different gangs” at the gathering. Fitzgerald was under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamines when he challenged Burchell to a fight and attacked him, Howeth said.

“There’s no excuse for Ryan having an ice pick at a party,” Howeth said. “He feels responsible for what happened. He wasn’t thinking clearly. He was attacked and just reacted. It was a terrible tragedy that should have been avoided.”

Burchell will be sentenced on the manslaughter charge by Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath on July 19.