A man was sentenced Friday to 21 years to life in state prison for fatally stabbing a 23-year-old passenger without provocation aboard a Metro B (Red) Line train in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ray Jurado imposed the term on Randy Lamale Nash, now 33, who pleaded no contest June 24 to second-degree murder for the Sept. 7, 2023, killing of Jesse Rodriguez.
Nash, now 33, also admitted allegations that he used a hunting knife in the commission of the crime and that he had a prior conviction for robbery in 2012.
In a statement shortly after the case was filed, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Nash followed the victim onto a Metro train at Union Station, sat two rows behind him, took out a large hunting knife as the train approached the Pershing Square station and stabbed him in the chest in a crime caught on security video.
A man who witnessed the attack told police that the assailant told the victim, “Don’t do it again. Don’t do it again,” and the victim stood up holding his chest and asked, “What are you doing? Why’d you do that? Why’d you do that?” according to testimony at a June 2025 hearing in which Nash was ordered to stand trial.
When the train came to a stop, Nash and Rodriguez exited and two Los Angeles police officers saw Rodriguez holding his chest and bleeding profusely, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He was taken to a hospital where he died from the stab wound.
Nash, who fled the scene, was identified by family members after they saw images released to the media by police, authorities said. He was arrested two days later at a relative’s home in South Los Angeles, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Nash subsequently told police that people were after him and trying to take his daughter away and that he believed the victim was following him, and that he remembered being on the train and getting into an argument but blacked out during the incident and just recalls trying to get away, according to testimony from last year’s hearing.
In a statement read in court on their behalf, the victims’ parents directly addressed the defendant, “You are a horrible creature and you took him away … You are worthless. You have no reason to be on this Earth.”
Another relative said the family doesn’t forgive Nash and felt his sentence was “not enough.”