A man who pleaded guilty to a vicious stabbing outside of the Princeton Dairy Queen in 2014 is serving the next three years in jail after his sentence was handed down Wednesday.
James Buhler pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and unlawfully causing bodily harm Tuesday.
Buhler stabbed his ex-wife Lydia Buhler multiple times on Feb. 26, 2014 before his daughter, Amanda Buhler, grabbed the knife away in an action the Crown called “amazingly heroic” and Justice Austin Cullen called “extremely courageous” while sentencing Buhler to a 6.5-year sentence, half of which he has already served in pre-trial custody.
Buhler has been in custody since the 2014 incident and received enhanced credit for time served despite opposition from Crown counsel John Swanson who noted Buhler was on bail for charges of uttering threats and had broken a no-contact order with his ex-wife by luring her to the Dairy Queen parking lot with her mail from a shared mailbox. However there was no application to revoke bail made by the Crown, Cullen said.
Cullen called the attack “determined” and “brutal.”
A plea arrangement was made prior to the outset of what was scheduled to be a trial in Supreme Court Tuesday on the charges attempted murder and aggravated assault. Instead, Buhler pleaded guilty to the lesser offences.
Both victims, Lydia and Amanda Buhler, declined to talk to media after the sentence was handed down.
James Buhler received a 10-year firearms prohibition as well.
