Man pleads guilty in Picasso vandalism case
May 21, 2013, 9:30 PM
HOUSTON (AP) – A man accused of vandalizing a 1929 Pablo Picasso painting in an act that was caught on cellphone video has pleaded guilty in exchange for a two-year prison sentence.
Uriel Landeros had faced felony graffiti and criminal mischief charges accusing him of spray-painting “Woman in a Red Armchair” at the Menil Collection in Houston.
Emily Detoto, Landeros’ attorney, says that at a court hearing Tuesday, her client pleaded guilty to the graffiti charge as part of a deal with prosecutors. The other charge was dropped.
The painting was damaged June 13. A bystander captured the act in a 24-second video that was posted on YouTube. The vandal left behind an image of a bullfighter, a bull and the word “conquista,” the Spanish word for conquest.
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