A 26-year-old Ketchikan man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for stabbing an 86-year-old World War II veteran during a theft. James Eddy was sentenced Friday to three years, nine months in prison by Ketchikan Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens for the July incident. District Attorney Stephen West and public defender Sam McQuerry told Stephens that Eddy had agreed to plead guilty to assault and theft in return for dismissal of a robbery charge, with the condition that the judge impose a sentence of no more than two years to serve in prison. Stephens rejected that agreement. He said the nature of the crime called for a stiffer sentence than the parties had requested.

(Associated Press)