Lebanon man sentenced to serve up to 11 years for role in 2015 fatal stabbing
A Lebanon man was sentenced Friday afternoon to serve up to 11 years for his role in a fatal stabbing in 2015.
Standing before Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas Judge Charles Jones Jr., William Culbreath was sentenced to serve a minimum of five and a half years for his role in the death of Travis Farrell. Culbreath pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Oct. 18 before his homicide trial was scheduled to begin.
"You have to figure out what's going on here, Mr. Culbreath, and you have to do what you can to stay away from that," Jones said to Culbreath during sentencing. "In this case, it turned out to be Mr. Farrell. He was the one who passed away. It could have easily been you."
Culbreath said little in court Friday, besides answering a few questions from Jones.
District Attorney Pier Hess Graf told the Lebanon Daily News in October that with all the witness and evidence issues the prosecution team had in this case, the voluntary manslaughter plea seemed an appropriate resolution for "what this trial became."
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In November 2015, Lebanon police filed a criminal homicide charge against Culbreath alleging he contributed to Farrell's death.
The two men got into a fight Nov. 16, 2015, outside the Silver Dollar Grille on 46 N. Ninth St. Police were called to the area at 1:17 a.m. for a report of a stabbing and found Farrell on the sidewalk. He had a severe neck laceration and was rushed to Hershey Medical Center, where he died.
An autopsy was conducted by Dauphin County Coroner Dr. Graham Hetrick, and officials reported the manner of death was a homicide.
Surveillance video from inside the bar shows Culbreath walking by Farrell and saying something to him, according to court documents. Farrell stood, and he and Culbreath walked toward the front door of the bar. No one else was with them, according to a police affidavit.
Police questioned Crystal Shultz, who said that she had been in relationships with both men. Shultz said she was seeing Farrell while Culbreath was in prison, according to court documents.
Shultz pleaded guilty in June 2016 to hindering apprehension for arranging transportation for Culbreath. According to a police affidavit filed in Shultz's case, a police informant said Shultz went to the home of a man identified only as "Bobby" on the morning of Nov. 15. She made arrangements for Bobby to drive Culbreath out of Lebanon to Reading.
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Culbreath was arrested in June 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina, for possession of cocaine and resisting arrest. He was extradited back to Lebanon County in September 2020 to face prosecution, according to officials.
Culbreath still has pending charges in North Carolina, according to Jones.
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on Twitter at @DAMattToth.
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon man sentenced for role in 2015 fatal stabbing
