A 64-year-old man pleaded guilty this week to a reduced charge in a stabbing a year ago in Carthage and was fined $350.
John K. Hornbeck pleaded guilty Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court to a misdemeanor count of assault in a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office, and Judge Dean Dankelson assessed the defendant the fine.
The defendant had been facing felony counts of second-degree assault and armed criminal action for slashing the arm of Jacob H. Dufresne during an argument July 10 at Hornbeck’s address on Olive Street in Carthage.
A probable-cause affidavit states that Dufresne was at Hornbeck’s home trying to sell him some meat when Dufresne angered Hornbeck by telling him to keep his hands off that woman,” meaning Hornbeck’s girlfriend.
Hornbeck pulled a knife out of his pocket and cut Dufresne, sending him to a hospital for stitches. The defendant claimed he did so in self-defense, but video of the incident that he provided police showed that Dufresne was not armed in any manner, according to the affidavit.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.