Group home murder suspect rejects plea deal

GILBERT, Ariz. — A controversial group home murder case is now going to trial after the suspect turned down a plea deal.

Christopher Lambeth was arrested and charged with murder in 2021 for killing his housemate Steven Howells at the Tilda Manor group home in Gilbert. He also picked up an aggravated assault charge in jail.  

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There were three settlement conferences and multiple versions of a plea offer in front of Lambeth before he rejected the offers on Thursday. He told the judge he wanted to pursue a guilty except insane, or GEI, defense at trial instead.  

This wouldn’t be the first time he’s used that designation.

In 2007, more than a decade before the group home murder, Lambeth pleaded guilty except insane, or GEI, for murdering his grandparents near Tucson. He was sentenced 25 to life at the Arizona State Hospital for treatment, but a now-defunct state board approved his release to the community just nine years later.

Eventually, Lambeth was placed at Tilda Manor, which has since closed down.

After Lambeth’s arrest in the group home murder in 2021, he was booked at the Lower Buckeye Jail, where he was caught on camera beating up another inmate.

Lambeth is facing two charges: first degree murder in the group home death and aggravated assault in the jail attack. He’s pleaded not guilty in both cases.

If he took a plea deal, Lambeth could have faced anywhere from 16 to 25 years in prison for the crimes.

A guilty except insane defense is different than a guilty except insane plea, which Lambeth took nearly 20 years ago in the killing of his grandparents.

That crime occurred back in 2005 in Pima County. About two years later in 2007, court records show Christopher Lambeth took a plea deal where he agreed to plead guilty except insane. He was sentenced to the state hospital instead of prison and avoided a trial by taking the deal.

In the present cases, the prosecutor said a guilty except insane plea deal would not be an option. Instead, Lambeth is opting to use it as a defense, which means it will be up to a jury to determine whether he was actually insane at the time of the crime and that he didn’t know what he was doing was wrong.

A GEI defense at trial means Lambeth has a chance to be sentenced to the state hospital for treatment if a jury finds he was insane at the time of the crime.  It’s also possible the jury could find he wasn’t insane, which means Lambeth could still be sentenced to prison if a jury convicts him in the murder and aggravated assault cases.

In court, the prosecutor said it was unlikely he’d offer another plea deal in the current cases.

Lambeth’s attorney declined to comment on the case after Thursday’s hearing.

The attorney representing victim Steven Howell’s family was not available Thursday afternoon when the I-team reached out.  The family settled a civil suit with the owners of the Tilda Manor group home in 2023, but the details are not public.

This case is the subject of the 12News I-Team podcast ‘Locked Inside.’

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