Phillip Audet sentenced to eight years for stabbing uncle
Wheeler also sentenced Audet to concurrent sentences for aggravated criminal mischief and unauthorized use of property convictions that stemmed from the same incident after Audet fled the stabbing scene in his uncle's car.
Audet, who has six prior assault convictions in
Prior to the sentence, the uncle,
"This is a life sentence for me,
"You've destroyed everything I worked so hard for including my dignity, my self-esteem and hopes and dreams, and you have zero remorse. The worse part about this for me is not the pain and suffering or the wreckage of a horrible intentional crime, but the fact that you didn't man up and admit your guilt and intention about that night."
Narbonne said Audet instead chose, "to shift the blame onto the real victim."
Assistant District Attorney
Bogue said Audet's lengthy criminal record -- including the other six assault convictions along with the fact that each time he had been placed on parole he violated his parole conditions -- made the state concerned for the safety of not only Audet's family, but also for the public at large.
She asked Wheeler to sentence Audet to 10 years for the assault conviction with another four years for the aggravated criminal mischief conviction. She also asked Wheeler not to give Audet parole.
But Audet's attorney,
Griffin said Audet didn't intentionally try to wound his uncle and leave him for dead, nor did he fully understand the extent of his uncle's wounds.
"There's was no intention there," Griffin said. "He didn't mean to leave his uncle there bleeding and half dead. When he left he thought his uncle's arm had been injured . . . He cut his uncle's arm, he saw the blood and he fled because he had had 40 drinks that night and was not thinking properly," Griffin said.
Audet's convictions stem from a
Audet fled the home in Narbonne's car, which he abandoned along the
Police traced him to a wooded area in
For his part, Audet apologized to his uncle, saying he lived every day with remorse and was truly sorry. But he also reiterated his position that Narbonne had attacked him first.
"I didn't know you were hurt as bad as you were," Audet said. "You had just attacked me, I was scared and I took off and I shouldn't have."
But in her sentencing comments, Wheeler reminded Audet he was the person wielding a weapon and his uncle was the one who ended up critically wounded.
"You had the knife," Wheeler said.
Wheeler said her sentence was aimed at ensuring Audet would be able to get the help he needed to overcome his addiction and substance abuse problems.
"The fact that I send you to prison doesn't mean I am not intent on helping you," Wheeler said after noting Audet only asked for two things Friday: his uncle's forgiveness and help with his addiction problems.
"I am intent on making sure that there is a structure in your life, including prison, that gives you the time and space to make the recovery that you need to make in order to achieve any likelihood of your uncle forgiving you," Wheeler said.
She also noted that forgiveness was unlikely so quickly, if at all, and would never come without Audet first addressing fully his substance abuse issues.
"It will only come after you are able to demonstrate to him that you have indeed changed your way of living," she said.
Wheeler also ordered Audet to pay restitution for his uncle's medical expenses as well as
Upon completion of his prison sentence in
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