by Rebecca Gomez

On May 14 former University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) student John Shaffer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against an unidentified female student. Shaffer was credited for the 457 days he already spent in jail while awaiting his sentencing hearing.

“He entered a plea of guilty and threw himself upon the mercy of the court,” said Tony Shunatona, Shaffer’s lawyer.

According to an UTD  police report, on Jan 9, 2009 Shaffer slit the neck of a female student on the third floor of the Engineering and Computer Science South (ECSS) building at approximately 5.45p.m. Shaffer fled the scene but gave himself up 45 minutes later at the urging of a peer advisor he had confessed to.

In an interview to the Dallas Morning News shortly after his arrest, Shaffer said that he had been having thoughts about harming someone for a few years and they culminated in the random stabbing of the female student. Shunatona said that mental illness probably did play a part in what happened, but Shaffer will not be going to a treatment facility.

Shunatona said that the unnamed victim had been cut so badly that she had to have plastic surgery to repair the injury but she was able to recover enough to complete school and receive her PhD. The female student decided to keep her identity a secret; however she did testify at Shaffer’s sentencing hearing.

Shaffer was charged with a second degree felony, which carries a sentence of 2-20 years. He will be eligible for parole once he has served half of his sentence. Shunatona said that Shaffer’s family was disappointed with the sentence given, but have accepted it.

Shaffer pled guilty at trial but still has the right to appeal his sentence.

Shaffer’s family did not respond to a request for comment on this story.