A Howard man pleaded guilty to an assault charge Tuesday for stabbing his father during a drunken argument that left a bloody scene in their Ellicott City house.
Timothy Cavender, 22, could face up to eight years in prison at his sentencing Dec. 12 before Howard Circuit Judge Richard Bernhardt.
In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped the attempted murder charges and agreed not to oppose the defense’s request that Cavender be incarcerated at the treatment-oriented Patuxent Institution in Jessup.
“You’re a young fellow, and this is a tragic crime,” Bernhardt said to Cavender, who folded his hands in front of him and hung his head.
Howard police arrived at Cavender’s house after 3 a.m. April 12 on Green Meadow Drive to find him covered in blood, prosecutors said.
Cavender immediately was placed in handcuffs and officers saw a knife in his back pocket.
“That’s the knife I used. That’s the one,” Cavender told police, according to prosecutors.
Police found Peter Cavender, the defendant’s father, lying on the living room floor with duct tape wrapped around a white cloth on a neck wound that was spurting blood.
A bloody shirt with a knife tear around the collar was found inside a garbage can, prosecutors said.
Cavender later told police his father was angry with him for losing his job and they were arguing and drinking throughout the night, according to prosecutors.
He told police he went upstairs to get a knife because his father began punching doors and walls. When his father tried to punch him, Cavender stabbed him in the neck, according to prosecutors.
Cavender then taped a cloth to his father’s neck and called police.
Peter Cavender was released from the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City. He told police he doesn’t remember the stabbing.
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