A Joshua Tree man is dead, and another arrested, following an argument early Sunday morning. According to a Sheriff’s report and press release, a man called 911 about 2:20 a.m. Sunday morning to report Lionel Blankenship, 50, had been “accidentally” stabbed. When deputies arrived, they located Blankenship near the road in the 63200 block of Pole Road in Joshua Tree, dead from a stab wound. After an investigation, Gregory Dominguez, 45, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Dominguez was brought to the Morongo Basin Jail, but a crash of the Sheriff’s computer system has delayed his booking and processing. Court records show that the victim, Lionel Blankenship, had enrolled in the drug court diversion program this summer, for a drug-related arrest in 2012. The Sheriff’s report indicates that deputies also discovered marijuana cultivation at the scene of the murder.
