Chaffee man found guilty of stabbing girlfriend

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - It took a jury just 24 minutes to find a Chaffee, Mo., man guilty of repeatedly stabbing his girlfriend and fleeing police.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat reported Bradley Brown, 37, was convicted by a Stoddard County jury on a change of venue from Scott County for one count of first-degree domestic assault, armed criminal action and felony resisting arrest arising out of events on March 8, 2008. The trial was before Judge Robin Fulton on Friday.

At about 11:45 p.m. March 8, 2008, a call came into the Chaffee Police Department from a neighbor to assist Nancy McCormick, who had suffered cuts and had blood on her pajamas. McCormick told officers her wounds were caused by Brown, who had been living with her for about one month, according to a news release issued by Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul R. Boyd.

At the scene another neighbor pointed out that a man was running west from the back of McCormick's house. Although officers called for Brown to stop, he ran into his mother's house where he was then apprehended by the police. Brown's clothes were covered in blood at the time of his arrest.

McCormick spent about five days in the hospital recovering from 11 knife wounds to her body including a cut to the thumb down to the bone on her left hand, a cut to her left arm, a stab wound to her right shoulder, a stab wound into her neck cutting her esophagus, and a stab wound to her right chest that punctured her lung.

The doctor who performed surgery on the victim testified at trial that any small movement of the knife that went into McCormick's neck could have cut the carotid artery or the jugular vein, Boyd said.

At the trial, the defendant claimed McCormick stabbed herself in a drug-induced psychosis and he was only trying to help her get medical attention.

"As a victim, Ms. McCormick suffered through questioning from defense counsel attacking her credibility and implying that she did this to herself just to keep Mr. Brown as her boyfriend," said Boyd. "The defendant's story and the defense tactics did not impress the jury given their expedited decision as to guilt."

Brown's sentencing is set for Aug. 10 in Bloomfield.

Because of the severity of the crime and because Brown has two prior convictions for drug possession, one prior for resisting arrest, and one prior conviction for selling illegal narcotics, prosecutors are requesting the maximum sentence. According to Boyd, Brown faces up to 30 years on domestic assault in the first degree, seven years on felony resisting arrest and a minimum of three years on armed criminal action. The crime of domestic assault in the first degree requires that a defendant must serve 85 percent of any sentence ordered by the court.