Pottstown man admits stabbing girlfriend during argument
NORRISTOWN >> A Pottstown man who admitted to police he intended to kill his girlfriend when he repeatedly stabbed her during an argument inside their borough apartment in 2012 has pleaded guilty to an attempted voluntary manslaughter charge.
Wearing a red jailhouse jumpsuit, Charles Swint, 40, formerly of the 400 block of South Street, showed no emotion as he also pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court on Thursday to charges of aggravated assault, theft by unlawful taking, recklessly endangering others, criminal mischief and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the July 6, 2012, stabbing inside the South Street residence.
“You are acknowledging by that plea that she came very close to losing her life that night?” Assistant District Attorney Alec O’Neill questioned Swint in court. “Yes,” Swint answered. By pleading guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter, Swint admitted that he attempted to kill the woman while acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation from the victim.
“Mr. Swint agreed today that he not only came close to killing the victim in this case but in essence that he had the intent, the mindset, to try to do so. Fortunately, she survived, by a hair’s breath,” O’Neill said.
A charge of attempted murder will be dismissed against Swint at sentencing time in exchange for his guilty plea to the other charges.
Judge Gary S. Silow deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Swint, who remains in jail without bail pending sentencing.
Swint used multiple knives to stab his girlfriend multiple times in the back, neck, shoulders, forearm, upper abdomen and cheek after an argument inside their apartment escalated. Prosecutors estimated the woman suffered more than 20 stab wounds.
“It definitely was a domestic violence incident,” said O’Neill, who vowed to seek a significant prison sentence against Swint. “Something that’s in line not only with the serious nature of this case and how egregious and violent it was, but something that reflects our greater push to punish cases of domestic violence and stop that so that these don’t ever get this close to death.”
Swint also pleaded guilty to a simple assault charge in connection with a separate incident that occurred June 12, 2012, about a month before the stabbing, during which he shoved the woman and she hit her head on an oven vent and sustained a laceration to her forehead.
Swint faces a possible maximum sentence of up to 16 years in prison if the judge imposes consecutive sentences for his crimes. But sentencing guidelines would allow for a lesser sentence of about 7 ½ years if the judge imposes concurrent sentences.
Defense lawyer Keith Harbison said he’ll argue for the “lowest sentence possible.”
“My client does regret the incident. It’s always been his intention to plead guilty to the charges. The issue was what charges would he plead guilty to and did they actually fit the facts of what happened in this case,” Harbison said.
Swint has been in prison since his arrest in 2012. Stabbing suspect Charles Swint is handcuffed by police as he lies along an embankment along Farmington Avenue in Upper Pottsgrove on July 6,2012.
“There were a lot of pretrial issues as well as it took time for us to come to an agreement with regard to the charges that fit the actual facts of this case,” Harbison explained.
“Mr. Swint agreed today that he not only came close to killing the victim in this case but in essence that he had the intent, the mindset, to try to do so. Fortunately, she survived, by a hair’s breath.” — Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Alec O’Neill “My client does regret the incident. It’s always been his intention to plead guilty to the charges.” — defense lawyer Keith Harbison
The victim was in the courtroom on Thursday.
“She wanted to be here to see this through,” O’Neill said.
After stabbing the woman, Swint took her Ford Expedition and fled from the scene, traveling onto Route 100, where he struck a vehicle in an adjacent lane. According to court records, Swint ran from the Ford Expedition on foot when it became disabled later on Commerce Drive in Upper Pottsgrove. He was taken into custody by Pottstown and Upper Pottsgrove police.
When questioned, Swint told police he stabbed the woman when a “verbal dispute” escalated, resulting in his “pushing her to the floor and stabbing her,” according to the arrest affidavit filed by Pottstown Cpl. Barry Grimm.
“He stated that he stabbed (the victim) with the intent to kill her and that she would not stop moving,” Grimm alleged in the arrest affidavit. “He stated that as the knives he was using would break he would go to the kitchen and retrieve another knife, then continue to stab (the victim).”
Authorities said Swint’s statement was consistent with the evidence of multiple broken knives authorities found inside the apartment during the investigation.