Juneau man appears in court after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend

The Juneau man arrested for an alleged knife assault against his girlfriend on Tuesday will likely remain behind bars until his next court hearing.

Listen to the report by KTOO’s Tripp J Crouse and Matt Miller:

Brent Sanders, 26, appeared in Juneau District Court for a first felony appearance on Wednesday afternoon to face a single charge of attempted murder and two charges of felony assault. He will be required to enter a plea during a later court hearing.

District Attorney James Scott called Sanders a “profound threat to the community” and noted that no one really sets out to attempt to kill someone. They usually plan to just kill someone.

Scott said the victim in Tuesday’s incident had been “repeatedly stabbed in the left upper quadrant of the back” and he alleged that Sanders had lodged a knife in the side of the victim’s head.

According to a complaint filed by Officer Lee Phelps of the Juneau Police Department, a knife with an approximately 4-inch blade was lodged in Rochelle Stevens’ temple. Phelps asserted that the other person assaulted in the incident was Stevens’ sister who tried to stop Sanders from making further attacks. She told Phelps she suffered a broken jaw on both sides.

Scott read through a list of previous charges filed against Sanders since 2011.They included interfering with the duties of a police officer, criminal mischief, three charges of disorderly conduct, and five charges of assault – including two for which Sanders is still on probation or parole.

Judge Thomas Nave set bail at $100,000 cash, appointed a public defender to represent Sanders, and tentatively scheduled his next appearance in Juneau District Court for Feb. 9. Sanders told Nave that he had no job, income, savings or property that could be used to make bail.

However, it’s possible that a grand jury could hand up an indictment in the case and Sanders’ next appearance would then be in Juneau Superior Court.

If Sanders is convicted of the charge of attempted murder, he could be sentenced to serve 20 years in prison and be fined $250,000. He could also be sentenced to 10 years in prison and be fined $100,000 for each of the assault charges.

Sanders appeared in court shackled to other inmates and wearing a standard prison-orange shirt and pants. His right arm had various, indistinguishable tattoos. The tail of a comet or streaming tears were tattooed out of the corner of his right eye, and a claw mark or tribal tattoo started on his left lower forehead and ran down over his left eye to his upper cheek.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications