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30-year sentence handed down in stabbing, kidnapping

STEUBENVILLE — Calling him a threat to public safety, Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge Michelle Miller sentenced Brian L. Bruce, 53, to 30 years in prison on Monday in connection with a stabbing and kidnapping incidents in the city and Bergholz in December,

Bruce pleaded guilty to three counts of felonious assault and single counts of aggravated burglary, kidnapping and attempted murder involving a male and female victim.

The female victim had obtained a protection order from Bruce at the end of November, according to Assistant Prosecutor Samuel Pate. She was living with Bruce in Bergholz at the time and rented a motel room in Steubenville to hide from him, Pate said. Bruce found out where she was staying, and Pate said the victim thought to herself, “I’m dead,” when she opened her motel door on Dec. 1 and saw Bruce standing there.

Pate said Bruce repeatedly slapped the victim and cut her with a knife. According to Pate, Bruce told her he was taking her to Bergholz and would kill her so her kids would find her.

Bruce called the male victim in the case for a ride to Bergholz. The male victim saw the condition of the female victim, and, when Bruce went back to get his cell phone, the male victim got the woman to safety, according to Pate. She was taken by ambulance to Trinity Medical Center West.

The male victim said he drove back to Bergholz and was sleeping in his truck when Bruce later that night opened the truck door and started beating and stabbing him.

Bruce had two competency and sanity evaluations in the case. He has served six prior prison terms going back 33 years and has numerous parole violations. He told the judge he was ordered to undergo mental health treatment when he was 16 years old. He noted he now understands he has problems and needs help and he apologized to the victims.

Pate said Bruce’s rage lasted for hours that night, and the assistant prosecutor called Bruce a dangerous and very violent person.

Miller said Bruce epitomizes someone with severe mental health issues who goes in and out of prison, and she noted Bruce is extremely violent and a risk to society.

In another case, Makayla Thompson, 27, of 744 Rosswell Ave. was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday by Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. after Thompson pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and trafficking in heroin, with a juvenile specification.

Thompson was arrested by the county drug task force on June 20 following a raid at her home. The task force reported a large amount of cocaine and heroin were found inside. The drug task force reported using confidential informants to make controlled buys of heroin.

Bruzzese said three years of the sentence is mandatory time.

Bruzzese issued a $500 fine and ordered $800 seized in the raid to be forfeited to the drug task force.

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