CHIPPEWA FALLS -- A man who stabbed three people south of Cadott in September 2009 will serve 20 years in prison and another 15 years on extended supervision.
Danny W. Tuttle, 40, of Marshfield apologized for the crime during his sentencing Wednesday in Chippewa County Court.
"The first thing I need to do is apologize to the victims," Tuttle said. "I'm truly sorry for any pain and suffering I caused them, and I ask for their forgiveness."
Tuttle said he has been a bitter person most of his life, and he knows he needs to change.
"I need to ask for help," Tuttle said. "Please help me."
ADVERTISEMENT
Chippewa County District Attorney Jon Theisen recommended 30 years in prison and 20 years of extended supervision, while Tuttle's attorney, Peter Morin, asked for 10 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision.
Tuttle stabbed Lisa Flint, Jessy Clark and Jeremy Dodge at a trailer of his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Johnson, on Sept. 15, 2009, in the town of Sigel, south of Cadott. He fled the scene and was later apprehended. Tuttle stabbed Flint -- Johnson's mother -- twice in the neck while Flint was asleep on a couch.
The knife wounds were within millimeters of killing Flint, said Dr. David Ciresi, who treated her. At a preliminary hearing last year, Ciresi testified that one cut was 12 centimeters in length, but the deeper cut, which was only 2 1/2 centimeters in length, was far more dangerous.
"The deeper wound, left untreated, would have led to mortality," Ciresi said.
Tuttle pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in October 2010. On Wednesday, Judge Roderick Cameron sentenced him.
"The crime here was vicious, aggravated and not the result of what someone else did," Cameron said before sentencing.
Theisen argued for the longer prison sentence, noting that Tuttle has been in prison twice before on crimes involving dangerous use of weapons and assaults.
Morin pushed for the shorter sentence, saying the court should consider Tuttle's troubled life, from being abused as a child to bouncing from home to home.
ADVERTISEMENT
After the sentencing, Theisen said he was glad Tuttle took responsibility for his actions. None of Tuttle's victims was in court Wednesday.
When officers found Tuttle, who was passed out at the steering wheel of his vehicle after intentionally overdosing on medication, they also found a ski mask, four cell phones -- one that belonged to Lisa Flint -- and drug paraphernalia.
Copyright (c) 2011, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis./Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
