HAMILTON — Jimmy D. Sudberry of Hamilton was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison for the stabbing death of his 37-year-old uncle, James L. Sudberry.

        In October, a Butler County Common Pleas jury convicted Mr. Sudberry, 27, also of Hamilton, on a charge of murder in the Jan. 25, 1999 incident.

Sudberry

        The victim bled to death after being stabbed twice in the back, once in the back of his left leg, once in the left side and once in the right shoulder with a pair of scissors. He also suffered a fractured skull.

        The defendant maintained that the elder Sudberry directed homosexual epithets at him and began pushing him and punching him in an alley outside the house they had been sharing for about a week.

        At Friday's sentencing, two aunts from Hamilton tearfully told Judge Patricia Oney that Jimmy Sudberry was not remorseful.

        “He has caused his family a lot of pain,” Janine Peterson said.

        “You took away a special person and an extraordinary guy,” Lanette Sudberry said, looking back at her nephew.

        He told the judge that he was sorry.

        “I'm the one who cries in the night,” he said. “Of all people, I'm the one who feels most sorry. If I could turn back the hands of time, I would not go to that house and get into a fight.”

        Police found the elder Mr. Sudberry's body covered with an orange carpet in a garage in an alley off Maple Avenue. Prosecutors claimed that Jimmy D. Sudberry attacked his uncle from behind.

        Outside the courtroom after Friday's sentencing, defense attorney Ron Morgan of Hamilton said he thought the charge should have been manslaughter, because of “substantial provocation.”

        State law left Judge Oney no discretion in the sentencing. She added 17 months to the 15-years-to-life sentence, to be served concurrently, on a charge of assaulting a police officer.

        That incident occurred during a fight with another inmate while Mr. Sudberry was incarcerated in the county jail.

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