Patrick Jackson claimed that he was innocent, but Circuit Judge Gary Jacobs disagreed.

Jacobs sentenced Jackson to a total of 20 years in prison Monday after a jury in February found him guilty of attacking Eastern student Ryan Ann Fitzgibbons with a knife on September 15, 2005 at the Brittany Ridge apartment complex.

Jackson prepared a statement declaring his innocence after the decision was announced, but Jacobs decided to read it aloud because he felt Jackson “might take it too far,” as reported in the Charleston Times-Courier.

“I don’t find the jury verdict inappropriate,” Jacobs said. “It seemed to me it was clearly supported by the evidence.”

Jackson, 26, of Lovington was found guilty on charges of armed violence, home invasion and aggravated battery.

He was on leave from National Guard duty and was living at the Brittany Ridge apartment complex.

Fitzgibbons was 21 at the time and also lived in the complex.

She reported waking to find a man laying in bed with her, with a knife in his possession. Fitzgibbons said she was stabbed in several places and the man fled the apartment after her roommate discovered him.

Jackson was later identified in a police line-up of suspects. Police also found a shirt with blood-like stains on it in Jackson’s apartment and the blood matched Fitzgibbons’ DNA.

“There was DNA evidence and there was an eye witness that had him at the scene,” Jacobs said. “So I think (the evidence) was very, very strong.”

Jackson was sentenced to serve 10 years for the armed violence charge, seven years for the home invasion charge and three years for the aggravated battery charge.

Jacobs said each sentence is set to run consecutively.

“There is a question to whether or not the separate offenses would merge as one crime or not,” said Defense Attorney Scott Lerner on whether he agreed with Jacobs’ decision.

Lerner said Jackson’s statement after the decision was not the ideal thing to say, but said he had a right to say it.

“It is his own life he is dealing with here,” Lerner said.

He said Jackson has filed motions for a new sentence hearing before Monday and plans to appeal the sentencing decision to the Appellate Court later on.

A hearing for the motion will be held April 26.

Jacobs said the sentencing was recommended by the State’s Attorney office.

The armed violence charge normally carries a minimum sentence of six years, but there was a Category Two weapon involved, which is a knife with a blade of at least three inches. The Category Two weapon extends the minimum to 10 years.

The home invasion charge carries a minimum sentence of six years and the aggravated battery charge carries a minimum sentence of two years. Jacobs sentenced Jackson to seven and three years for those charges, respectively.

“I did follow the recommendations because I thought they were sound,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs also ordered Jackson to pay restitution to cover the medical expenses of the woman and the woman’s roommate, who was slightly injured when the attacker ran into her while fleeing the apartment. Those amounts came to about $27,000 total.

“It’s sad to see a man with that much to give to the world and have it be wasted,” Lerner said.

State’s Attorney Steve Ferguson could not be reached for comment.

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