RED LAKE - A Red Lake, Minn. man was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Duluth to 82 months in prison for breaking into his ex-wife's home and stabbing her in at least nine places while she tried to protect their 5-year-old son.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for Paul Robert James, 35, to receive 51 to 63 months in prison, but Judge Joan Erickson ruled that because James had a lengthy criminal record, including several crimes while he lived on the Red Lake reservation, he deserved a sentence of nearly seven years.
James told the court that he didn't remember stabbing his ex-wife in November and that he was sorry for his actions.
"I loved her and still love her," he said.
Erickson called that comment alarming.
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The victim told the court that she needed 90 stitches after the stabbing for injuries to her arms, face and chest, and that if it wasn't for a roommate who called 911, "I wouldn't be here. I would be dead."
