By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Instead of a trial next week for the 26-year-old woman being held after her boyfriend was stabbed in the neck at his Mossyrock home, Grace E. Barker will go before a judge to be sentenced.
Barker was arrested right after the April 6 incident and charged with first-degree assault. She pleaded guilty last week, as part of a plea agreement, to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
[1]Grace E. Barker
Her lawyer Shane O’Rourke yesterday said the standard range for the offense is 12 months to 14 months in prison, along with another year afterward because of the weapon enhancement. She faces 26 months of lockup, he said.
Prosecutors wrote in charging documents that Brian Slater was trying to get Barker to leave his residence when she picked up a knife, and he armed himself with a knife and when he threw his down thinking she had done the same, she stabbed him in the throat. Slater has said it was a 10-inch stiletto.
Her hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Monday in Lewis County Superior Court.
The settlement before trial follows another April knife crime that ended somewhat similarly.
Gregory L. Trujillo, 58, of Toledo, was charged with first-degree assault following an April 1 attack [2] at the 300 block of Cedar Court in Winlock.
Trujillo’s trial began last week in Lewis County Superior Court, on a charge of first-degree assault, but on Tuesday, he entered into a plea agreement.
The victim in that case told police the two had previously been in an intimate relationship and Trujillo showed up, beat her up and pulled out what was described as a small-bladed knife, leaving her with a large, deep gash on her hand.
Trujillo pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to get evaluated for chemical dependency and domestic violence treatment.
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For background, read “Mossyrock argument: Two knives, one airlifted, other arrested” from Thursday April 7, 2016, here [3]