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Facing a trial, a Hudson man accused of stabbing his wife pleads no contest to attempted first-degree murder and gets a 61/2-year prison sentence.
By CARY DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 6, 2001
NEW PORT RICHEY -- The late-night argument over money ended, as they sometimes do with couples, with the husband and wife retiring to separate rooms.
But instead of sleeping off his anger, Ricky Lynn Farrow, a man with no prior criminal record, pulled his wife out of bed and stabbed her repeatedly with a barbecue fork, screwdriver and a knife, prosecutors said. Throughout the attack on Aug. 28, Farrow kept screaming, "I'm going to kill you."
If not for the actions of a few neighbors, who overheard the commotion and put a stop to the attack by hurling a skateboard through the window, Angela Farrow might not be alive today. Instead, she was in court Tuesday to see her 44-year-old husband off to prison.
In a deal struck with prosecutors just before a jury was picked to hear the case, Farrow of Hudson pleaded no contest to attempted first-degree murder in exchange for a 61/2-year prison sentence.
Circuit Judge Craig Villanti accepted the plea and ordered Farrow to serve 15 years of probation after he gets out of prison.
"This man would easily be on death row if he had succeeded in killing his wife," Villanti said in pronouncing the sentence.
Had Farrow gone to trial and been convicted, he faced the possibility of life in prison.
In jail blues and shackled at the wrists and ankles, Farrow rocked back and forth with his head bowed as he listened to the sentence. When the time came for him to address the court, Farrow, who suffers from depression, asked the judge for help.
"I love my wife," said Farrow, who fled the state after the attack and was eventually arrested in Kentucky.
Angela Farrow, 30, who has recovered from her injuries, asked prosecutors to go easy on her husband. The prison term was at the bottom of state sentencing guidelines, and Villanti said the couple's marriage is strong enough to survive the time apart. "I think there's hope for this family," he said.