Denny?s manager Michael Fredrick, 52, came withinmoments of death last August when a robber stabbed him 32 times outside his Fullerton restaurant.
“The words he said to me, ?I?ll kill you,? will be with me the rest of my life,” Fredrick said Wednesday outside Baltimore County Circuit Court.
Judge Thomas Bollinger Sr. found David T. Burton, 29, of Baltimore, guilty of attempted first-degree murder in the Aug. 14 crime, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Fredrick had just stepped out of the restaurant with the weekend?s earnings when Burton attacked him, apparently knowing the manager was about to make a deposit at the bank, police said.
Fredrick was stabbed in his back, stomach, both arms, hands and fingers, and still has limited use of his hands.
“This has affected us so much emotionally and physically,” said Fredrick?s wife, Sherrie. “He will never be the same.”
Burton had just taken hits of cocaine and heroin before he robbed Fredrick, said Burton?s attorney, James Psoras.
Psoras argued that Burton did not intend to kill Fredrick, but merely meant to rob him.
Baltimore County police Detective Bernard Crumbacker, who investigated the crime, said the attack could have been a murder if not for a good Samaritan, the Rev. Eric Lee Douglas, who helped save Fredrick?s life by tending to his injuries.
After leaving the Denny?s parking lot, Burton and his girlfriend, Sarah Higgins ? who has already pleaded guilty in connection to the crime ? fled to Virginia in a 1991 Nissan, where they were apprehended by Gloucester County sheriff?s deputies.
In court Wednesday, prosecutors played dramatic video of the chase involving Burton and Higgins, who tried to elude arrest.
“The vehicle came to a stop and then sped off rapidly at about 105 to 100 miles per hour,” said Sgt. Darron Conrad of the Gloucester Sheriff?s Office.
In her final arguments, Baltimore County Assistant State?s Attorney Ann Brobst told the judge that Burton was willing to kill to get money to purchase drugs.
“He was prepared to do whatever it took to get that money,” she said.
Burton will be sentenced on May 15.
