Son Sentenced to 10 Years for Stabbing Father at Church
The Kentucky man charged with stabbing his father during a church service was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday, March 28. Warren Circuit Court handed down the sentence to 21-year-old Ethan Andrew Buckley, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill in February to a charge of first-degree assault.
The incident happened on Aug. 14, 2016, when Buckley stabbed his father David in the neck inside Hillvue Heights Baptist Church in Nashville Road where they were attending a 9:30 a.m. service. The assailant said he was "moved by the sermon and decided to kill his dad," according to an arrest report.
Ethan aimed for his dad's "jugular vein so it would be painless." Pastor David Tooley recalled hearing a commotion in the mid-section of the church, only a few rows from the pulpit. They thought David was having a seizure but heard him cry, "Don't let him kill me, don't let him kill me!"
Congregation members subdued Ethan. The scene of the crime operative recovered a blood-drenched pocketknife about five feet from where emergency personnel attended to David. He was taken to The Medical Center then transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
"Ethan Buckley stated his father's time here on earth was up because he had done a lot of good things in his life," Det. Mike Nade of Bowling Green Police Department said. "Ethan Buckley stated he resented his father because his father was such a good guy while he (Ethan) was a screw-up and a drug addict."
Ethan underwent a psychiatric evaluation while in custody and Judge John Grise ruled in November that he was competent to stand trial. He accepted an offer from the Warren County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office that recommended a 10-year prison sentence. He will be required to serve eight and a half years before he becomes eligible for parole.
