Elginite gets 11 years for drug-related stabbing
FROM SUBMITTED REPORTS June 4, 2012 8:28PM
Marcellus D. Thomas
Updated: July 7, 2012 8:26AM
ST. CHARLES TWP. — An Elgin man has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for severely injuring a man with a butcher knife in a dispute over a drug deal.
Marcellus D. Thomas, 31, of the 100 block of South State Street, was sentenced by Circuit Judge David R. Akemann to 11 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
A jury convicted Thomas on March 16 of one count of armed violence, one count of aggravated battery with great bodily harm, and one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
According to a release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, testimony showed that Thomas, the victim and others had been drinking and ingesting narcotics at Thomas’ apartment all night Nov. 5-6, 2001.
When the victim tried to leave, an argument began about whether the victim had paid for some cocaine, and Thomas grabbed a butcher knife, authorities said.
After a struggle, Thomas stabbed the victim in the left shoulder area, puncturing his subclavian artery. Thomas left the apartment with a friend and threw the knife into an open area near the Fox River. Paramedics who responded described the crime scene as one of the bloodiest they had seen. The victim suffered permanent injuries as a result of the attack.
Because Akemann ruled that Thomas’ actions caused great bodily harm to the victim, Thomas must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.
Thomas was given credit for at least 203 days served in the Kane County jail.
The case was prosecuted by Kane County Assistant State’s Attorneys Alex Bederka and Debra Bree.
