Stiff Sentence In Stabbing That Started As Incident Between 2 Teens
ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A judge handed down a stiff sentence in what started as an incident between two teens in Adams County.
Noah Ladesma pleaded guilty to second degree assault for stabbing Dakota Rigoulot.
Last year, Rigoulot, 15, claimed to be the victim of an incident with another teen, Gage Mendoza.
The situation escalated between the teens and that's when Mendoza's uncle, Noah Ladesma, became involved.
He took out a knife and stabbed Rigoulot. The wound left a big scar but it's small compared to the other scar left on his stomach after surgery to repair his intestines.
"They got out of the car over there. And when they got out of the car he started running around the car towards me. And I yelled out, 'If you touch me I'll call the police. I'm under 18.' And at that point he struck me and I didn't notice that he had a knife that he had stabbed me," said Rigoulot. "And then I felt blood running down my side."
Rigoulot spent 10 days in the hospital.
Ladesma, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault but refused to take responsibility for the stabbing.
The minimum sentence for the crime was five years but Ladesma did not take accountability for what happened, so Judge Thomas Ensor sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
Ladesma openly cried in court and told the judge he is a good man. His family had no comment as they left court.
"Not only is Dakota a victim but so too is the defendant's family because now he is going away for 12 years in the Department of Corrections," said Adams County District Attorney Dave Young.