BATH, Maine — A Bath man who stabbed his former girlfriend repeatedly in the neck and almost killed her will spend at least 6½ years in prison for what a Superior Court justice said Thursday was one of the most severe domestic violence cases he has seen.
The victim, who gave an emotional 30-minute statement during the sentencing hearing in Sagadahoc County Superior Court, called 28-year-old Matthew Wycoff’s sentence “insulting.”
Superior Court Justice William Horton sentenced Wycoff to 15 years in prison with all but 6½ years suspended, followed by six years of probation with numerous restrictions. Wycoff pleaded guilty to Class A elevated aggravated assault earlier this year.
“No amount of prison time can restore to [the victim] what was taken,” said Horton in Sagadahoc County Superior Court. “The assault itself can only be characterized as a savage attack. This is one of the most serious domestic violence cases that there is and one of the more severe forms that I’ve seen.”
A long night of drinking in celebration of the woman’s birthday preceded the attack at about 6:50 a.m. Feb. 20, according to Assistant Sagadahoc County District Attorney Patricia Mador.
Though there was some disagreement between Wycoff, his victim and a witness about exactly what happened — Wycoff says she picked up the knife first — but Wycoff doesn’t deny that he tackled her and stabbed her several times in the neck and shoulder with such force that it broke the blade on the steak knife he used.
According to Mador, the knife punctured the woman’s jugular vein twice. She was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland where she underwent surgery to save her life while Wycoff fled from the Washington Street apartment. He was arrested less than an hour later at a gas station in Topsham.
The victim told the court that it will take her and her children years to rebound from the effects of the attack. She objected to a plea agreement struck in the case, in which Wycoff pleaded guilty to elevated aggravated assault and agreed to a cap on his sentence of 15 years with all but eight years suspended. The maximum possible sentence for the charge is 30 years in prison.
“I am not comfortable with up to eight years,” said the victim. “My life is worth more than that. My children’s integrity and innocence is worth more than that. I think ‘up to eight years’ is insulting. … Please give me enough time to rebuild, save up and leave.”
The woman told the court that just bringing herself to the hearing was a major challenge, partly because she feared it would give Wycoff some satisfaction. Wycoff, dressed in a dark suit but shackled at the hands and ankles at the defense table, shook his head “no” in response.
Later in the hearing, Wycoff, who has a 2-year-old son, said he is ashamed of his “absolutely tragic” actions.
“The morning of Feb. 20 is the most regrettable morning of my life, but I take responsibility for the whole thing,” he said. “I’m not just sorry because I’m in jail, or because I’ve lost custody of my son, or that I’ve lost everything I’ve ever worked for or anything that I should. I’m truly sorry because I hurt someone I care about deeply who I never intended on hurting.”
Wycoff, according to his defense attorney, William Baghdoyan of Augusta, was a high-honor student, president of his high school class, multiple-sport athlete and a premedical student for two semesters at the University of Maine. In recent years, Wycoff has worked as a finish carpenter. Wycoff blamed the attack on his excessive drinking.
“The only thing that can truly personify my remorse is to change,” he said. “I do realize that forgiveness required right action and dedication. I’m truly committed to that now and for the rest of my days.”
In deciding on his sentence, Horton said Wycoff’s remorse, along with the fact he pleaded guilty to the crime, were major mitigating factors. However, the savagery of the attack, its impact on the victim’s life and Wycoff’s substance abuse problem were what pushed Horton toward the 15-year sentence.
“I recognize that this sentence is less than [the victim] would be asking me to impose, and I’m sure Mr. Wycoff and his family view it as much harsher than the circumstances deserve,” said Horton. “It reflects my attempt to weigh the facts I’ve acquired to come up with a sentence that addresses the various codes of the criminal justice system.”
Conditions of Wycoff’s release after he has served his prison time include no contact with his victim, no use of intoxicants, submittal to random search and testing, and participation in a domestic violence monitoring program by the court system. As a convicted felon, he also will not be allowed to possess weapons.
The victim said her appearance in court Thursday was a struggle.
“I was torn to come here today but I refuse not to be an example to my children that you fight, you stand up and you do your part. If you don’t, then don’t complain,” she said. “You don’t just throw in the towel because it’s uncomfortable.”
Are you kidding me??? The judge should be taken off the bench.
oh and he won’t spend “at least 6 and 1 half years” in jail. he’ll earn a couple years off.
Should have received a life sentence,aorta puntured twice she’s lucky to be alive.
And we wonder what is wrong with our society.
Attempted murder. For that all you get is a “time out” to chill. Is that the message we want to send to domestic violence perpetrators and their victims? I hope the victim is one of those people stockpiling the guns that are flying off Walmart’s shelves. In six years she’ll need it when this guy gets out and blames her for putting him behind bars.
Insanity! He should have been charged with attempted murder and received a MUCH stiffer sentence than 6 years! It seems there’s not really much to deter criminals these days when the court system is so warm and fuzzy. It’s really sad and disturbing.
And you as the prosecutor can prove that this man had murder in mind when he stabbed her?
are you kidding me?
what else would someone have in their mind when they stab someone twice in the neck?
It’s not me, it’s our legal system which treats “crimes of passion” differently than other crime. You must prove that this “attack” was not provoked in the heat of passion.
…and personally (not legally) I would guess that this guy didn’t have much of a mind to hold any thoughts.
i’m no lawyer, so, i’d be out of place to comment further than to say
” Class A elevated aggravated assault” which is what he pleaded to, seems like a break compared to ‘attempted murder’ which is what it looks like to the victim.
if he’d punched her in the face twice, i’d agree with you. but that’s not what happened.
i’m out. going shopping take care. stay independent.
Why is there so much crime in Maine? Because the sentences are LIGHT. Remember the man who killed his infant son and got six years? Life apparently means nothing to Maine judges.
Knee-jerk response based on a simplistic understanding of human motivation. There is no way that “fear of a harsh sentence” would have made any difference in this guy’s behavior after a “night of heavy drinking.”
And how about the domestic-abuse quadruple homicide/suicide in Maine? You seriously think that fear of a harsh sentence would have stopped the guy from killing his family and then himself? Get real.. our culture has a problem with violence.. it has nothing to do with how harsh the jail terms are.
You seriously think some drunk is going to stop and say to himself, “gee.. I might get 30 years for stabbing her in the neck and almost killing her. I better not do that”? How about putting some of your awesome mental ability (as implied by your nick) towards real solutions to problem of why we turn to violence so often and easily?
deterrence is only one part of the penal system. punishment, rehabilitation and protection for the public also matter.
You are right of course, but the original poster was claiming a causal link between light (still subjective.. how about comparing our typical sentences with other countries that have less crime) sentences and crime rates. Punishment has no relationship to it. Rehab and removal do. I’m willing to bet that the original poster is not a big fan of rehab either. Hence we’re left only with “removal” in order to protect the public.. Harsher sentences for this reason have been tried in CA and other states. It doesn’t work.. CA is now forced to put perps back on the street by federal courts because the “public” is not willing to “pay” for their own protection. Hence, we are back to my point.. what’s the REAL cause of high crime rates here in the USA.. especially violent crime?
I don’t know.
I am a bit suspect of statistics since the data is only a part of the larger, cultural picture.
ie, is there more domestic violence today than 100 years ago or are we just now learning to report it?
My grandmother (in the 1920’s and 30’s) was beaten, emotionally abused, and neglected by my grandfather who reportedly abused his own mother as well. She never said a word, and we would never have learned about this, EXCEPT that she kept a daily record of events.
so sad. and brave of you to share that here, with others.
it was only a few generations ago that women were legally considered property, did not have the right to vote and had no legal standing to own property of their own. you can see vestiges of that today. i’m sure that’s how the victim in this story feels, how your dear grandmother felt.
peace be with you tux, merry christmas.
You don’t know too much this time. Maine has one of the lowest crime rates in the Nation, far lower than Texas, Florida, and Wyoming where the “tough judges” live.
Until our legal authorities stop protecting the ‘rights’ of those who have harmed others, until they get serious and walk the walk that they talk, it will get worse. Intentional physical harm to another, unless in defense or in fear of your life, should be punished completely. Sentences should not be reduced, no plea bargaining, no right to appeal. You ground your children for doing something wrong and you tell them they are grounded for a week, do you let them off after 3 days? Because that is the message that is being sent … you can do almost anything to harm another individual and you will not have to do the time. Not only that, but you will be warm, fed, clothed while you do half the penance you received, and wait! you can earn a college degree and have access to the internet too….. Huh. I wonder if the punishment is really on the ‘free’ side of the wall? Dont we struggle to have access to the internet? We work, and we pay for it. I cant afford to pay for a college education and if not for the assistance i receive through work, would not be getting one. I have seen this time and again. I have been involved in a case where someone faced 48 years in jail, they served 3 years. So what message is that? Run, victim, run. Dont tell anyone, as much as it hurts, drop your life and go find a new one somewhere else. That is the message.
To the lady in this article: I am so very sorry that the state of Maine does not take this as serious as they should. Do what you have to and take care of yourself and your child.
I wonder what the sentence would have been if it had been a judges daughter who had been stabbed in this fashion.
Without doubt it must be the fault of semiautomatic weapons which are to blame certainly not the human attacker. Those high capacity sharped edged instruments are simply too dangerous for the common public. We must have a waiting period for the purchase of these dangerous knives and background checks on every knife purchaser. All knives must be registered with a central bureau to the tune of multiple millions of tax dollars. And certainly no one should be allowed to purchase of use such dangerous weapons without the proper training by a state certified instructor. It isn’t the person found guilty who is at fault It is the inanimate sharp edged instrument which must be regulated for the good of the public. (sarcasm filter broken beyond all recognition)
a high capacity weapon would have killed many, many more people. your comment lacks context.
when the founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights,the only guns on the market were pistols and muskets. they never anticipated an automatic weapon.
I believe you are mistaken. The founding fathers believed (Jefferson’s letter to Adams on the subject) that the citizens should be armed to defend themselves against their own government if it got too high handed. By today’s standards that means we should all have at least one I.C.B.M with nuclear war head, in our backyard.
One letter from one founding father to the other is not indicative of what the body decided. Jefferson (my personal hero) did not win the day on every issue.
If you have studied “your personal hero” (and slave owner) you would know that he said (many times in many letters) that “The People” should have a revolution every twenty-five years.
We are long overdue.
i love Jefferson, but like Regean had O’Neil, Jefferson had Madison.
Thank God. Because that’s how our country works best…balanced.
no, we just need more people to show up on election day and at public hearings. the world is run by people who show up.
Absolutely correct
I once believed that. Back when I was a Democrat. In 1992, Jerry Brown won the Maine State caucuses. The Democratic leadership did not like that choice, so they sent a slate of Clinton delegates to the National Convention. Saint George (Mitchell) was instrumental in this robbery. So I said Oh, gee the Republicans have to be better than this, but this year the State Republicans behaved just like the State Democrats in 1992, except that they lost.
Now I’m an Independent, but NOT an Angus King supporter.
i’m a registered Dem because I want to participate in the primaries, but i voted outside my party the last few elections.
says (this) one moderate to another: you know you are a moderate when you p*ss everybody off. ;)
GOOD FOR YOU!
They are pricey, esp to maintain. Just sayin’.
I knew a guy in prison (in Colorado) who was killed with a spoon. What about them?
was it 26 guys in a class room?
/exactly
Oh numbers are important? I heard over 3,000 Us residents were killed with four separate planes. What about them?
what about them?
You are entering a response to another poster. You claimed that numbers mattered (“Was that 26 guys in a classroom?” ) so I came back to answer your question. (“3,000 Us residents were killed with four separate planes.”) So you ask “what about them?” I answer is it your intent to ban planes, visitors from the Middle East, or targets?
Wouldn’t it be easier to ban nuts?
well stated, i think. if you have read any of my comments on here in the past, you *know* i believe that the odds of dying at the hands of a DOMESTIC terrorist are far greater than dying at the hands of a foreign terrorist. anyone from OK should understand that, Tux.
terrorists, like the 911 hijackers were insane, just like the Sandy Hook terrorist. terrorism is as likely to be a white, American occurrence as it is a Muslim occurrence.
a steak knife’s sole purpose is not to kill, it’s not even its primary purpose. there are arguments against gun control, but false analogies are simply foolish.
I wonder what the sentence would have been for a female if the roles were reversed.
Statistics say it would have been at least twice as long. So much for justice.
If at all possible the victim should take her children and move as far away as she can and not tell anyone where she is. He is a violent offender and I bet he will do something again when he gets the chance.
Unfortunately, but very likely, she will be at the jailhouse door when he is released to bring him home. Sorry for this, but that is my experience after working with abuse victims.
There is absolutely NO chance, that my mother and I would go and pick up this man that tore apart our family. If you have nothing smart to say, I suggest you don’t say anything at all.
That may be how you feel. However, there are, and have been many victims, for one reason of another, that do eventually end up feeling forgiveness towards their attackers and do think that things will change.
What Tux has said is very true and it is you that has nothing “smart” to contribute.
People go to jail for life for selling some weed but light sentences if you actually hurt somebody. This judge is too soft on violent crime; he probably makes up for it on non violent crimes.
Did she threaten him first?
It doesn’t matter IMHO, because even if she threatened him verbally, his response was out of proportion entirely, and is nothing short of attempted murder. Even if she had uttered a verbal threat, it would not have justified his response.
Of course that is your belief, but it has nothing to do with reality unless you were there.
are you saying there is possibly justification for stabbing someone in the neck twice?
in your rebuttal, plz also explain how walking away from a verbal attack wasn’t a a better solution.
Kind of like asking if you have stopped beating your husband.
I am only pointing out that it might be tough to prove attempted murder.
no no. not at all.
“did you stop beating your wife?” is a “loaded question”, a rhetorical tool.
my question was not rhetorical, but I will rephrase it.
other than self defense…of course (and I find it very hard to picture how being on top of someone stabbing them twice in the neck could be self defense).
“is there justification for stabbing someone in the neck twice? and can you describe how that is a better solution than walking away?”
The fact is that the State charged Wycoff with attempted murder and dismissed the charge as part of the plea agreement for exactly the reason TuxKatz says. The reality is that if we did not have plea agreements the State would lose many many more cases at trial than it does. That’s a fact–like it or not. Also, most of the life sentence/hang -em high crowd would scream the loudest if they had to pay the huge tax increase it would take either to build prisons or institute the death penalty. And lastly, the penal code does talk about rehabilitation.
She probably told him to collect the 3 things he owned and hit the highway because if she wanted someone dependant on her she’d have a child not date one.
Nothing new in Maine. Abusers get a free ride all the time. Just read this paper and see. Sad IMHO any man who beats a woman should be locked up for life.
This must be what they mean by the expression “adding insult to injury”. This is a judge without good judgement.
“Mercy for the offender is like torture for the victim.”
It seems to me that most rational people reading this are upset with light sentence yet again by what appears to be another extreme leftist judge in this state. Perhaps Mr. Cousins should include some background on the judge in question. Who appointed him? What politcal party voted in favor of confirmation? Perhaps other opinions rendered by him. Something that even resembles actual reporting in this newspaper would be a nice change.
Gee yeah good idea justice dispensed by political outrage. Why not just do away with the judge and the court altogether, and let citizens stone alleged perpetrators in the town square. It would be cheaper.
All Maine JUDGES are deaf, DUMB and blind…there is absolutely no justice here. Why bother with going to court? They just let the jerks back out on the streets. No wonder Maine is such a sad place to live lately.
Assault, how about Attempted Murder, that is an insult.
Again I ask the question that none will answer. Why are the victims of crime not involved with plea deals?
Can we all assume that chances are high that he will be out of prison in 6.5 years, get in another relationship and end up killing the next one?
He might. Yet that was his sentence, Can’t keep the cattle penned up for life. Can allways tell when jilted women comment.. They want life for anyman who didn’t bow down to their women
and you can tell the impotent and/or closeted men pretty quick too.
maybe you should change your name to takethebluepill
Perhaps someone can help me out – according to the State of Maine Judicial Branch website here: http://www.courts.state.me.us/maine_courts/superior/justices.shtml
There is no superior court justice named William Horton. There’s an Andrew Horton, listed for Cumberland County, but no William.
Proof again that our Judicial system does not work and is a complete failure! If this animal gets out of jail and commits another violent act, the Judge should be held responsible, sent to prison for a minimum of 5 years and stripped of all benefits. Violent crimes are on the increase and many people believe the Judicial system is too soft on criminals and needs to be reworked to function properly in Maine! If scum like this keep getting off so easily it won’t be long before old style vigilante committees start rising up to do what our so called Judicial system refuses to do, punish criminals! Let the punishments fit the crimes before you turn decent people into criminals!
I see a lot of disagreement with the outcome of this case. A lot of negativity towards Judge Horton. People do realize that a plea agreement is struck between the denfense and the D.A. right? Usually to insure a guilty verdict, and or, to prevent a lengthy drawn out trial. Alltough, the Judge does have the athourity to rule against an agreement. I do think that this sentence is extremely light for the offense. I have to question the D.A. for such an agreement. There must have been some sort of doubt by the prosecution on a guilty verdict other than elevated aggravated assault.
How in the world can our criminal code not address this ?????? It had to be the judge and he should be held accountable.
who stabbed his former girlfriend repeatedly in the neck and almost killed her will spend at least 6½ years in prison for what a Superior Court justice said Thursday was one of the most severe domestic violence cases he has seen.
6 1/2 years so let’s do the math shall we ? 6 1/2 subtract time off for good behavior subtract all the other crap they take time off for and this violent perpetrator will be out and about in under 4 years…..clearly we have the best justice system EVER !!!
Until this country returns to the death penalty for violent crimes we will continue to see stuff like this in the news ! The threat of a few years in jail is no real deterrent to crime !