Hatboro man pleads guilty to stabbing neighbor to death over snoring dispute

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Montgomery County man has pleaded guilty to killing his neighbor in a dispute over loud snoring .

Christopher Casey, 56, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for stabbing and killing 62-year-old Robert Wallace earlier this year. He was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Wallace and Casey lived next door to each other in a duplex on Fritch Road in Hatboro, and their bedrooms shared a wall. The two men had been arguing for more than a year because Wallace said Casey snored so loudly that he couldn’t sleep.

On Jan. 14, police said Wallace banged on Casey’s window and ripped out the screen. The two men talked through the window and Wallace calmed down. Casey told police Wallace wanted to shake hands, but as Wallace came to the door, Casey hid a hunting knife under a blanket and then stabbed Wallace multiple times .

“[Wallace] was basically bullying him,” said Jim Lyons, Casey’s attorney. “He had launched a campaign of terror against him. They were next door neighbors for over a year ostensibly because my client snored loudly at night and kept him awake.”

With the manslaughter plea, Casey avoids the more serious charge of third-degree murder.

Lyons called the plea a fair resolution to an “unusual” and “tragic” case for all involved. Casey is on the autism spectrum, and Lyons said he “was not equipped to deal with this type of sustained abuse.”