A Carroll County judge handed down a life sentence on Tuesday in relation to a 2020 stabbing in Westminster.
Circuit Court Judge Maria L. Oesterreicher sentenced Buck Sexton, Jr., 38, to life in prison suspending all but 40 years on convictions for attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon, according to a news release from the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office
A jury found Sexton guilty of the charges on Aug. 26 after a four-day trial.
On Jan. 24, 2020, witnesses reported that Sexton ambushed and stabbed a 29-year-old Westminster man in the 200 block of E. Main St. around midnight. Sexton had been waiting under a staircase at the rear entrance to an apartment, holding a wooden stick in his hand, according to charging documents.
When the victim and a witness walked toward the rear of the building, Sexton struck the victim with the stick, then took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed him, according to charging documents. The two continued fighting and Sexton suffered a head injury when he fell to the ground.
The news release said Sexton stabbed the victim three times, once in the arm and twice in the abdomen. And prosecutors said the crime was racially motivated because of the language Sexton used before, during and after the attack. He was charged with a hate crime but not found guilty of it.
“I want to thank the Westminster Police Department for their thorough investigation and the members of the community who came forward as witnesses and assisted in ensuring that a menace to the community will remain behind bars for a significant period of time,” Allan Culver, interim State’s Attorney, said in a news release.
The case was investigated by Westminster Police Department, and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer J. Brady prosecuted the case.