Man Who Stabbed Housemate Over Clogged Toilet Sentenced

A man convicted of stabbing his roommate’s son to death — a conflict sparked by a clogged toilet — was sentenced to 10 years in prison, The Washington Post reports.

James E. Biddnger, 27, was sentenced Friday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. A jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter for killing Kevin A. Mbayo at a Germantown townhouse, the final conflict amid brewing tensions between the men. Mbayo, 22, was not on the lease but was living at the house to care for his sick father, Patch reported during the trial.

Using state sentencing guidelines as a guide, Biddinger’s attorney’s reportedly told The Washington Post that they anticipated a sentence range of between two and seven years, while prosecutors put the range at between four and nine. But Judge Robert A. Greenberg reportedly told Biddinger that he delivered a stiffer sentence because Biddinger instigated the fight — to which he brought a knife — fled without calling paramedics, and tried to influence witnesses during the trial, the article states.

Mbayo was killed May 3, 2011, from a single stab wound to his back. , Biddinger, his fiancée and another guest had come home from a night of drinking and playing corn hole when the guest asked to use an upstairs restroom. But the restroom was out of toilet paper, so Biddinger went to the downstairs bathroom only to find it clogged and stinking, with Mbayo lounging on the couch nearby.

Biddinger confronted Mbayo and the altercation ensued. Minutes later, Mbayo’s father and Biddinger’s two friends rushed to the living room to find Mbayo dying on the floor, .

Defense attorney Melanie Creedon reportedly told The Gazette that she plans to appeal the sentence.