17 Year Sentence for Defendant in Girlfriend's Stabbing

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ A Connecticut man who stabbed his fiancee at least 33 times in Manchester last year has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Hartford Superior Court Judge David Gold said during Wednesday's sentencing that the attack was another incident in a series of violent acts that Edward Leonard Jr. had inflicted on women when his relationships with them fell apart.

The victim, Paul Nixon, survived the January 2009 stabbing at the Clocktower Mill apartments and was in the courtroom Wednesday.

The judge said Leonard's other attacks included holding a knife to the throat of another girlfriend and fracturing another woman's facial bone.

Leonard's family have suggested that a head injury he suffered as a child may have played a role in his problems and said he's not an ``animal.''


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     Information from: Journal Inquirer, http://www.journalinquirer.com