A Warsaw man will serve up to 10 years in prison for stabbing a neighbor at the Victory Hotel.
Randel Dan Manley, 51, Warsaw, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery in January.
Judge Michael Reed handed down the sentence in Kosciusko County Court Monday morning, sentencing Manley to 13 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with three years suspended on probation. Manley will receive 121 days credit for time served.
“We’re lucky there wasn’t a worse outcome here,” Reed said.
Manley initially was charged with attempted murder in the case but the charges were reduced to aggravated battery as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Kosciusko County Prosecutor Dan Hampton said they reduced the charges due to the victim’s input in the case.
On Oct. 23, Warsaw police found Mitchell Robinson, 30, Warsaw, unresponsive with cuts to the stomach and the neck. Robinson was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital and then flown to Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne. Robinson survived the attack.
A witness told police she came in to a room at the hotel and saw Manley down the hall on top of Robinson, court records state.
Police located Manley, who was in his room with blood on his clothes and a bloody box cutter knife in his doorway. Police believe both men were intoxicated and had been arguing about Robinson wanting his cigarettes and knife, charging documents state.
