A Vancouver man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 7 1/2 years in prison after stabbing a stranger several times in the chest in 2017.
Teivon Jerome Graham, 22, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Clark County Superior Court. He was then sentenced by Judge Scott Collier.
Vancouver police were called about 11 p.m. Nov. 3, 2017, to 1010 N.E. 142nd Ave. about a reported stabbing. A caller said he had been stabbed, and the suspect was standing somewhere outside his home, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Arriving officers found Graham standing less than a block away. His clothes were covered in blood, and officers told him to sit down, the affidavit said. He did briefly, then stood up and ran away before officers caught up with him and detained him, police said.
Officers found a bloody kitchen knife near where they first saw Graham, who had a large cut on the outside of his left hand, according to the affidavit.
They followed a trail of blood spots to the caller’s home, where they found Adam Phillips with several stab wounds to the chest. He told officers a man stabbed him with a kitchen knife near the front porch, the affidavit said.
Phillips was stabbed in the heart and nearly died in the days that followed, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Anna Klein said Wednesday. He now suffers shortness of breath, post-traumatic stress disorder, and is more fearful and anxious than he used to be, she said.
“Mr. Phillips was very, very lucky to survive,” Klein said.
A neighbor told officers she picked up Graham earlier that day, and they had been hanging out at her place. She said he behaved oddly, and she heard sirens not long after he left, according to the affidavit.
As part of Graham’s plea agreement, a deadly weapon enhancement was dropped, and Klein didn’t ask for the maximum sentence of more than 10 years. She said Graham didn’t have a criminal history or any conflict with Phillips.
“This is a confounding case. The crime here made no sense,” Klein said.
Graham disclosed that, at the time of the attack, he was under the influence of alcohol and ecstasy, Klein said. His family also has a history of mental illness, Graham’s defense attorney Dustin Richardson said.
Citing different expert evaluations, the attorneys presented arguments about whether Graham’s psychotic break was intoxicant-induced or due to mental illness. Richardson asked for a sentence closer to six years, saying that Graham believed God was asking him to kill demons and that he mistook Phillips for one.
“He didn’t understand. He was delusional in his belief that God was speaking to him,” Richardson said.
Phillips did not speak at the hearing. Graham apologized.
“I feel bad for the guy,” Graham told Collier. “He didn’t know what was going on.”
