By Joe Johnson
An Athens man this week received an 11-year sentence for stabbing someone in the neck earlier this year.
According to a memorandum of plea agreement filed Tuesday in Clarke County Superior Court, 44-year-old Ferris Elsworth Grady Jr. of Pineview Drive entered an Alford plea to charges of aggravated and possession of a knife in the commission of a felony, and a charge of possession of methamphetamine was dismissed.
Under the Alford doctrine, the defendant asserts their innocence while admitting that the evidence presented by the prosecution would likely persuade a judge or jury to find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Also on Tuesday, and in accordance with the plea deal, Western Judicial Circuit Judge H. Patrick Haggard sentenced Grady to six years in confinement, with credit given for the nearly eight months he had already spent in jail.
Upon his release from prison, Grady must serve five years on probation, according to the sentencing document.
Grady’s case stemmed from an incident on March 10 at University Oaks Apartments, where a 41-year-old man said that someone who accused him of stealing his shoes stabbed him in the neck, according to court and police documents.
The victim was transported by EMS to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
An investigation by Athens-Clarke County police identified the offender as Grady, who was located and arrested in a room at the nearby Country Inn & Suites hotel on Old Epps Bridge Road.
Police said they learned nothing to indicate that the victim was responsible for the theft of any shoes.