Suspended sentence given for Thanksgiving stabbing

An Asheville man was sentenced last week to the five days he had already served in jail over a stabbing incident which occurred Thanksgiving Day. During the Nov. 27 session of Alleghany County District Court, Judge Edgar B. Gregory gave Leonardo Vargas Leon, 31, of Asheville a 60-day suspended sentence with five days active time, which Leon had already served since being arrested.

Leon had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, a felony, after stabbing Alvaro Trinidad in the chest with a butcher knife. Both men were migrant Christmas tree farmers living at the same residence.

Trinidad suffered a punctured right lung. He was admitted to Alleghany Memorial Hospital in stable condition, treated and subsequently released. According to court records, Trinidad did not want to prosecute Leon or have Leon ordered to stay away from him. Such an order is typical in assault judgments.

Leon was allowed to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of assault with a deadly weapon. He was also given 24 months supervised probation and ordered to pay $1,489.81 restitution for Trinidad's hospital bills along with a $200 fine, court cost, a $250 court attorney fee and a $100 interpreter fee.

Assistant District Attorney Stacy Adams explained that Trinidad did not want to prosecute because the two men were friends. She said Gregory spoke with Trinidad before the sentencing and considered the circumstances. Police reports indicated the stabbing came as the result of a drunken argument.

"It was one of those unusual cases," said Adams. "As far as I know, they're still working and living together."

The complete court report from last week appears on Page 12A.

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