Butler man sentenced to 8 years in prison for stabbings in Lucas Bar

Rick Harvey's girlfriend recalled the night she almost lost him in a stabbing.

“I saw him pushing his intestines into his side and holding them and telling me, 'We have to go to the hospital. I can't wait for emergency services,'” Susan Switzer said in Richland County court Monday.

Harvey was fighting for his life after Nicholas Tess, 35, of Butler, stabbed him twice in an April 12 incident at Rainbow Gardens, a bar in Lucas.

Switzer and the two victims made statements to Common Pleas Court Judge Phil Naumoff at Tess's sentencing on Monday.

Tess pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of resisting arrest on August 1. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped one count of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

The lawyers had agreed to recommend a six-year prison sentence, but Naumoff, deterred by the defendants' lack of remorse, sentenced Tess to eight years in prison.

Stabbing after controversial bar bill

“You could have killed two people that night and why? Because of an unpaid bill?” asked the judge.

There was an argument, prosecutors said, because the bar did not accept credit cards. Naumoff said numerous patrons offered to pay Tess's bill.

When the stabbings occurred, the victims had planned a nice evening and had just gone out.

Harvey was the first to speak in court. He underwent surgery and required several staples, but the knife did not hit any vital organs.

“Mr. Tess chose to change his life and mine,” Harvey said. “He chose to almost end my life.”

He added that he was convinced that Tess had planned the attack.

“He never took the knife out of his pocket. He had it in his hand,” Harvey said.

He said he had not spoken to Tess and never saw her at Rainbow Gardens. Harvey called Tess a monster.

Switzer continued this theme in her speech to the court.

“That demon decided to stab Rick,” she said. “I think about it every night before I go to bed. I replay that night over and over again.”

Victim drove himself to the hospital

Switzer remembered the drive to the hospital where Harvey begged her not to let him die that way.

Although she was not a physical victim that night, Switzer has struggled with emotional issues since the attack.

“I can't be in public with large crowds,” she said. “I'm afraid someone will attack us.”

Thomas Spencer was the second victim. He was in better shape than Harvey, but suffered a stab wound to the stomach.

Spencer tried to intervene when Tess stabbed him.

“I put myself between him and someone else,” Spencer said in court. “After I took him to the ground, took the knife away from him, turned him over and tied his hands with a belt, I asked him why he had stabbed me.”

He was surprised by Tess' answer.

“Calm and collected, he just looks me in the eyes and says, 'You were in my way,'” Spencer said.

Defense attorney Jerry Thompson pointed out that his client had no previous convictions and asked Naumoff to impose the agreed sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Lauryn Calderhead said Tess deserved a harsher sentence.

“He takes no responsibility for his actions,” she said. “If it was self-defense, why did he resist the police? It took three police officers and a taser to get him to obey.”

Naumoff also struggled with Tess’s claims.

“What I find difficult, Mr. Tess, is your testimony, your version of events that happened that day,” the judge said. “It's hard to look at that and wonder exactly what you're talking about. It really is.”

Judge does not believe defendant defended himself

Naumoff said there were five witnesses who testified that Tess was the attacker.

“You're the one with the knife. You're the one who stabbed those people,” he said.

The judge also pointed out Tess' lack of remorse.

“Nothing annoys me more than when someone accepts a confession and then doesn't have the decency to apologize to the victims,” Naumoff said. “That worries me. In my opinion, you have no problem with what happened.”

After initially declining to comment on the advice of his lawyer, Tess apologized to the victims and then said he would defend himself.

“There is no evidence that you were attacked,” Naumoff said. “The evidence shows that you were the one who instigated this.”

“I know we talked about six years, but I don't think that's appropriate at this point.”

The judge also ordered Tess Harvey to pay $126.68 in damages.

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