A man who stabbed two women in East County has been sentenced to 69 years and four months in state prison.
Consecutive terms were handed down to Patrick Christian Douglas, 52, by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos on April 26.
A jury convicted Douglas on March 13 on all counts after they deliberated for four hours. He was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, assault and evading sheriff’s deputies with reckless driving.
The bizarre attacks occurred on Nov. 7, 2017 to Shawntey Palmer and Dina Hammond just minutes apart. Neither one knew Douglas or each other.
Palmer was stabbed 13 times at 3 a.m. while sitting with Douglas in his car in the Grocery Outlet Bargain parking lot at 350 North Second Street in El Cajon. He had picked her up on El Cajon Boulevard earlier.
Hammond was a Frito-Lay delivery person and was stabbed as she was taking food items to the 7-Eleven store at 4610 Avocado Boulevard in La Mesa at 3:06 a.m.
Deputy District Attorney Jeff Lazar asked for the maximum sentence. Hammond made a victim impact statement before sentencing.
U.S. Border Patrol agents found Douglas at 7:45 a.m. on Nov. 7 near the area of Freezer Road and state Route Highway 94 in Dulzura. They detained him and sheriff’s deputies said Douglas was the same man who fled from them.
Jurors also convicted Douglas of assault on a deputy sheriff in which he drove his car at him, said Lazar.
Exarhos gave him credit for already serving 616 days in jail and fined Douglas $10,574.
As part of the 69-year term, Exarhos imposed extra years for Douglas’ previous convictions of assault with a deadly weapon in 1992 and robbery and burglary in 1996.
Hit and run driver sentenced to three years
A hit and run driver who injured a 9-year-old boy on his bicycle in El Cajon has been sentenced to three years in state prison.
Courtney Joy Webber, 26, of Lakeside, pleaded guilty in March to hit and run causing permanent injuries to the boy in the Oct. 4, 2018 incident at 7:30 a.m. at the intersection of West Main Street and Sunshine Avenue.
El Cajon Police released photos of the dark blue Honda Fit she was driving. Acting on a tip from the public, officers and sheriff’s deputies went to where she lived and found her hiding under a bed.
Webber received credit of approximately seven months in jail by an El Cajon Superior Court judge on April 25.
She also pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license, running a red light and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.
Deputy District Attorney Agustin Pena said the boy is recovering and has returned to school.
Women held up with machete gives testimony
“No one should live in fear as I do every day.”
That’s what a worker at a Spring Valley cell phone store told the convicted robbers May 6 who held her up in 2017 while brandishing a machete.
The woman, known as L.N.R. in the indictment, told Carlos Adolfo Soto, 41, and Justin Wayne Caldwell, 32, about the lasting impact the robbery had upon her at the Metro PCS store on Jan. 25, 2017 on Jamacha Road in Spring Valley.
“I still have nightmares,” said the woman whose words were read by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Wong. “Not a day goes by do I not think (of it).”
The woman was overcome with emotion and had the prosecutor read her statement before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Whelan.
Soto apologized to the woman. The sentencing for Soto and Caldwell will conclude on May 28 and June 3 respectively.
Wong is seeking sentences of 151 months for both men in federal prison. They both pleaded guilty to robbing the Spring Valley store and nine other Metro PCS stores in 2017. The charges are federal because they interfered in interstate commerce.
The losses to all stores are believed to total $43,103, including the cost of stolen phones, though the pair’s attorneys say the loss is less than that. Their attorneys are seeking 57 months each in prison.
Both men remain in federal custody.
