Columbia Man Sentenced for Stabbing His Father During Altercation

February 19, 2009

A domestic altercation leading to a stabbing in a Columbia apartment last spring resulted in an active jail sentence of just short of a year at the Howard County Detention Center. Today, Howard County Circuit Court Judge Richard S. Bernhardt sentenced Timothy Forrest Cavender, 23, of the 12000 block of Green Meadow Drive to eight years in prison, suspending all but time served—a total of 315 days—plus three years of supervised probation.

At a plea hearing held last fall, Cavender pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault on his father, Peter Cavender, 48.

According to a statement in support of the guilty plea, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney James J. Dietrich told the court last fall that at 3:10 a.m. on April 12, 2008, Howard County police twice responded to reports of a fight in progress. When police knocked on the apartment door, the younger Cavender opened the door and “his hands and clothing were covered with blood” according to Dietrich. Upon entering the apartment Ofc. Sarah Kayser discovered the Peter Cavender, bleeding profusely from a stab wound to the neck. He was transported to Maryland Shock Trauma where doctors treated him for a severed neck artery and damage to his esophagus. Ofc. Kayser also discovered a knife sticking out of Timothy Cavender’s back pocket which, according to Dietrich prompted him to confess, “That’s the knife I used; that’s the one.”

According to court documents, both father and son admitted that they had been drinking, and arguing, prior to the stabbing, about Timothy Cavender’s loss of his job.