Man pleads guilty in June stabbing of wife

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An assistant Mahoning County prosecutor is recommending a 16-year prison term for a Boardman man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder, felonious assault and kidnapping in the June 3 stabbing of his estranged wife.

John F. Sylvester Jr., 37, of Jaguar Drive, entered his plea Monday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who is scheduled to sentence him at 10 a.m. Feb. 6.

“I take full responsibility,” Sylvester told the judge.

Sylvester, who remains in the county jail pending sentencing, also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child endangering. His wife’s 2-year-old son was cut on his foot during the incident.

Sylvester’s wife was cut on her hands, neck and shoulder in the Jaguar Drive stabbing.

Shortly after the incident, Sylvester kept police at bay for four hours with threats to jump off the Market Street bridge before he surrendered.

In the plea deal, Natasha Frenchko, an assistant prosecutor, dropped repeat violent-offender specifications, which could have extended Sylvester’s prison time.

In 1999, Sylvester pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend, who was shot multiple times in the head and torso in 1996 outside her Boardman apartment complex.

In that case, he was sentenced to seven to 25 years in prison with a three-year gun specification and released May 2, 2005.