Vancouver man suffering from paranoid delusions gets 18 years for stabbing

A Vancouver man was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years and four months in prison for stabbing a stranger with a steak knife last summer in a delusional rage.

Pascual Valenzuela, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault with a deadly weapon enhancement.

He admitted confronting 23-year-old Bradley Bingham at Bingham’s home near East 30th Street and St. Johns Boulevard after believing Valenzuela’s female cousin was raped at the man’s home. The cousin told authorities she was never raped and that Valenzuela was delusional.

Valenzuela had said he thought he heard his cousin’s voice inside the home during a previous house party and believed she was being taken advantage of, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield said.

But “there was no connection,” Banfield said. “They had never met before.”

Banfield said Bingham was stabbed the next day, on Aug. 9, as he was working on his truck outside his house. He suffered three stab wounds and came a “quarter of an inch from death,” based on the proximity to vital arteries, she told the judge. Bingham was hospitalized and recovered.

“This could have been a murder,” Clark County Superior Court Judge John Nichols said, before imposing the sentence.

Prosecutors initially charged Valenzuela with first-degree attempted murder because he had made threats to kill prior to the stabbing. However, Valenzuela was found to suffer from mental health problems that raised questions about his intent.

Defense attorney Gregg Schile said a mental evaluation determined that paranoid delusions led to the attack, although the attorney wasn’t sure why his client had those thoughts.

Valenzuela didn’t shed any new light on the delusions when it was his turn to speak. He said he was sorry, but added that he still believed his cousin had been sexually assaulted at the home.

In response, the judge ordered that Valenzuela receive mental health treatment in prison.

“What you did was very wrong,” Nichols said in response to Valenzuela’s explanations.

Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.