A man accused in the apparent random stabbing of a woman at Stephenville City Park has been convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
A jury in Stephenville on Wednesday convicted 43-year-old Michael Allen Howard of Stephenville in the March attack in which a 29-year-old woman's spinal cord was severed.
Brandi Todd of Morgan Mill was left paralyzed from the waist down after being stabbed in the back as she watched her two children play.
Howard was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Jurors then took about 30 minutes to decide on the maximum penalty.
A judge in August ruled that Howard was competent to stand trial. He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. According to investigators, Howard admitted to attacking Todd, said he is mentally ill and could only say that "something took over" as his reason for the attack.
Stephenville is 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
More: BrandiTodd.com
