PROVO — A white-supremacist gang member was sentenced to what could be life in prison for stabbing a man in a parking lot.
Trevor Powell, 28, pleaded no contest to attempted aggravated murder on May 12, canceling a three-day jury trial that had been set to begin Wednesday in 4th District Court.
With the plea arrangement, Powell was sentenced to five years to life in the Utah State Prison.
Defense attorney Matthew Howell said the judge gave Powell credit for time served and allowed his new sentence to run concurrently with another five-to-life sentence for a 2001 charge of aggravated robbery, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.
Powell, who police say is a member of the gang Soldiers of Aryan Culture, had already served nearly seven years in prison for the robbery charge when he was paroled in January 2008. However, his arrest in April 2008 violated his parole, which was then revoked.
It took police a few days to find Powell after the March 23, 2008, assault.
Police said that day, Ashley Richman and Casey Ortega brought the victim under false pretenses to a parking lot in America Fork, where Powell and Jason Ford were waiting. Ford pulled the victim out of the truck, and he and Powell stole the man's leather jacket. Powell then sliced the victim with a knife from his back to his chest, and down his ribs, according to police affidavits filed in 4th District Court.
The bleeding victim was able to escape and get help from nearby neighbors, who called police. He has since recovered.
The plea arrangement was reached only recently, Howell said, and doesn't involve any of the other co-defendants or their cases.
"(Powell) made no agreement to assist the state in any way," he said.
Howell declined to comment on why the plea was "no-contest" rather than guilty. A no-contest plea carries the same legal weight as a guilty plea, but means an individual doesn't admit guilt, only that the prosecutors would most likely win at trial.
Ford's case concluded in August 2008, as he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was given jail time. Ortega pleaded no-contest to aggravated assault in April and will be sentenced June 23. Richman is scheduled to enter a plea June 9.
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