A Reno County jury has found a 37-year-old Hutchinson man charged with aggravated battery “guilty” of the charge. They also found Joshua Seck guilty of a second charge of making a criminal threat.
Seck was charged after he got into a fight and stabbed David Stover of Chase, Kansas five times. The handle of one of the knives involved allegedly broke off during the attack. This occurring on August 26, of last year at Seck’s home in the 1600 block of East 4th. He is also alleged to have threatened that he was going to kill him, leading to the second charge.
The question for the jury was whether it self defense as the defendant claimed. The state says no, while the defense argues that the angry calls and text messages that day led to the defendant and his wife fearing for their safety. Defense Attorney Sam Kepfield told the jury that they were so fearful, they locked their kids in their rooms, and the defendants wife placed a knife on the back porch. Kepfield says his client grabbed the knives after being choked to the point he was turning blue.
But, Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell argued that Seck was angry and that Stover was in the process of trying to break up a fight that began between Seck and his brother-n-law, Mike Pelsor. Stover says he jumped into to try to break up the fight and that’s when he says he was stabbed as he put a bear hug on the defendant.
With the jury finding the defendant guilty of the two charges, Judge Tim Chambers set sentencing in the case for August 9th.