Menil Picasso vandal gets 2 years in prison

Pablo Picasso painted "Woman in a Red Armchair" in 1929. A vandal damaged the work in June at the Menil, where it underwent several months of restoration. Pablo Picasso painted "Woman in a Red Armchair" in 1929. A vandal damaged the work in June at the Menil, where it underwent several months of restoration. Photo: Hickey-Robertson Photo: Hickey-Robertson Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Menil Picasso vandal gets 2 years in prison 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

A Houston college student pleaded guilty Tuesday to vandalizing a Picasso painting at the Menil museum last year in exchange for two years in prison.

Because Uriel Landeros, 22, has been in jail for five months since surrendering to authorities in January, he may be paroled as soon as he goes to prison, his lawyer said.

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"He was happy with the deal," said Emily Detoto. "With five months credit, he may just go in to get classified and immediately be paroled."

She said he did not want to be on probation because he is an artist trying to finish his college career at the University of Houston while traveling for art shows.

Landeros was charged with graffiti with damage costing between $20,000 and $100,000 and criminal mischief, both of which are third-degree felonies with a punishment ranging from two to 10 years behind bars, after spray-painting Picasso's "Woman in a Red Armchair" at the Menil Collection on June 13.

A cellphone video taken by a museum patron showed Landeros spray-painting a stencil of a bullfighter killing a bull and the word "conquista" - Spanish for "to conquer." The 1929 masterpiece is valued at several million dollars and has since been restored.

After fleeing to Mexico, Landeros posted a video himself, saying he did not intend to destroy the painting.

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"I did this to turn heads," he said in the video, "to raise awareness. … I am sorry for insulting anybody who misunderstood my message."

In January, he turned himself in and has been in the Harris County Jail since then.

Detoto said Landeros decided to plead guilty to graffiti as long as the criminal mischief charge was dropped.

"As an artist, he believes what he did was art, if not making a statement," Detoto said. "There was no way he was going to plead guilty to criminal mischief."

Landeros' family was in state District Judge Vanessa Velasquez's courtroom to support the artist, Detoto said.