Stabbing suspect awaits hearing

The suspect in a Feb. 13 stabbing is in custody, awaiting a preliminary hearing next month in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

Billy McGee, 42, faces one count each of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

He is accused of stabbing another man in the chest with a steak knife outside a home on North Spanish Street.

Online court records show McGee and his lawyer, Jacob Zimmerman, appeared March 5 for an initial arraignment, where Judge Michael J. Bullerdieck denied a defense motion for bond reduction.

McGee's bond is set at $250,000 cash or surety.

The case is set for preliminary hearing April 9.

According to a probable-cause affidavit filed in the case, the victim told police he had gone to his father's house for a birthday party when he saw McGee walking down the alley and asked what was going on.

The victim said McGee replied, "What's it to you?" and walked from the alley into the driveway, where he threatened to kill the victim, started to walk away, then turned back around and stabbed him with a wooden-handled steak knife before fleeing on foot, the affidavit stated.

Officers set up a perimeter and brought in a K-9 unit to search for McGee the night of the stabbing but did not find him.

According to a February news release from the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the victim's injury -- described in the affidavit as a stab wound an inch and a half long and an eighth of an inch wide -- was serious but not life-threatening.

Online court records show McGee's criminal history includes involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and drug possession and distribution.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

1430 N. Spanish St., Cape Girardeau, MO