SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – A Springfield man was sentenced to prison in connection with stabbing a woman in 2019.
According to Hampden District Attorney’s Office Spokesperson Jim Leydon, 43-year-old Gerald Eddington was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a domestic violence attack. On January 5, 2019 police were called to a report of a stabbing at a home on Scarsdale Road. A victim was found bleeding from over a dozen stab wounds to her face, neck, arms, legs, and trunk of her body.
Eddington entered the home in the early hours of the morning with a folding knife and attacked the victim, who he has a child with, in her bedroom, unprovoked. He was found guilty by a jury on September 29, 2022 to five counts of each of the following:
- Mayhem
- Armed assault in a dwelling
- Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
- Assault on a family/household member
- Assault and battery
The sentencing of twenty years in state prison were on the charge of mayhem and five years of probation on the armed assault in a dwelling. All other time received on the three other charges are to run concurrently to his twenty-year sentence.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni stated, “I would like to thank the members of the Springfield Police Department who responded to the scene as well as the detectives who put together a very good case. I would also like to thank Assistant District Attorney, and Chief of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Unit, Dana Parsons, for her skillful prosecution of Gerald Eddington. The victim in this case has suffered severe trauma, both mentally and physically because of the defendant. I hope this verdict brings her a sense of justice and peace.”
Eddington was also found guilty in a separate jury-waived trial on October 14, 2022 of being a habitual offender due to two prior serious felony convictions. He also has a history of having six prior restraining orders taken out against him, along with prior convictions for:
- Assault and battery on a pregnant person
- Illegal possession of firearms
- Narcotics distribution
- Assault with a dangerous weapon to wit handgun resulting in serious bodily injury
District Attorney Gulluni also stated: “As a society, we can have no tolerance for domestic violence. It endlessly ravages the lives of victims, who are typically women and mothers, whose children often also suffer actually and vicariously at the hands of the abusers. This is why my office created the Domestic and Sexual Violence Unit, so specialized prosecutors and advocates can work with victims to ensure they are safe and that justice is done.”
