Man gets 16 years for choking, stabbing girlfriend

WARREN — Jacob J. Asbury, 33, of Adelaide Avenue Southeast, was sentenced to 16 years in prison today in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for stabbing and choking his girlfriend in her Tod Avenue Southwest home Oct. 5, 2015.

Asbury apologized for the crimes before Judge Peter Kontos pronounced the sentence, and the victim also asked that Asbury receive help and not serve the longest possible jail sentence.

Judge Kontos sentenced Asbury to the length of time recommended by Chris Becker, the assistant county prosecutor who handled the case.

In a videotaped interview played during Asbury’s trial earlier this month, Asbury told a detective he “lost control” after he and the woman argued. He then put her in a “sleeper hold” and stabbed her twice in the neck with a paring knife that was nearby.

Becker said the woman actually suffered two stab wounds to her neck and single stab wounds to her head, back and hand.

He drove the woman to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, where she was treated, he said. He was arrested in the hospital parking lot.

A jury found him guilty of two counts of felonious assault and one count of attempted murder.