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Man sentenced to eight years for stabbing woman
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A Cambridge Avenue man convicted last month of stabbing a Boardman woman was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Patrick Howard, 24, will be given credit for 671 days he has served in the Mahoning County jail while waiting for his case to be finished. The sentence was handed down by Visiting Judge Paul Mitrovich, who also presided over a two-day trial where Howard was found guilty of two counts of felonious assault, but not guilty of attempted murder.
The maximum sentence for felonious assault is eight years. Both counts merged into one charge for the sentencing hearing.
Howard was accused of stabbing a Boardman woman several times in her South Avenue apartment about 3:45 a.m. March 29, 2013. At the hearing Friday, Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta said the woman was an escort at the time she was stabbed and that Howard had arranged to meet her.
Brevetta asked for a maximum sentence, saying that despite the woman’s occupation, she did not deserve to be attacked the way she was.
“The behavior he exhibited that day shows he is a threat to society,” Brevetta said.
Brevetta said Howard has accepted no responsibility and even has claimed he acted in self-defense. He said jurors were allowed to consider that in their deliberations but they did not find he acted in self-defense.
The victim was not present in court. Brevetta said she has moved to another state because she is afraid of Howard. The woman was stabbed several times and required stitches to treat her wounds.
Defense attorney John Juhasz asked for a lenient sentence. He said both of his client’s parents were drug addicts, he has never held a job, had a ninth-grade education and has anger issues stemming from a learning disability. He asked that any sentence include treatment for his anger issues and also training so he would be able to find employment when his sentence is over.
Howard said the whole situation was a “misunderstanding” and he was trying to defend himself.
“I didn’t intentionally hurt nobody, period,” Howard said. Howard also apologized.
Judge Mitrovich called the stabbing a “violent and henious act.” He said Howard used a deadly weapon several times and also attacked the woman from behind and at one point held the knife to her throat.