Jury Selection for Texas Stabbing Case Slated for December

A jury will be selected for the case of a stabbing in Texas in which Nicholas Canfield, 25, of Knapp Street in Monroe is the defendant on Dec. 5. The victim, a 34-year-old woman, is also from Monroe.

Canfield is being accused of stabbing his live in girlfriend with a butcher knife then violating a protective order by going to her place of employment and leaving a notebook on her car. Law enforcement says he had written to the victim, telling her he intended to rape her before killing her then himself.

A trial will be held in Denton County, Texas. According to a source knowledgable about the case, the prosecution had offered a 30-year sentence in a plea bargain, but Canfield, through his attorney Douglas Mulder, declined, insisting on probation because Canfield has no prior criminal record.

Probation would have to be served in Connecticut, because Canfield has no Texas address. However, if he is found guilty and is denied probation, the jury would choose between a prison sentence of 5 to 99 years.

In Texas, violent offenders must serve at least half of their sentence before being eligible for parole. Canfield has already spent close to a year in Denton County Jail, which counts toward any time he may get in sentencing. It also means that once he is approved for parole, it can also be transferred out of state, according to a source with knowlege of the case.

If nothing changes, the case will go to trial on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

Canfield graduated from Masuk High School in 2004 and went on to be a substitute teacher for Monroe Public Schools, where he was employed as recently as October of 2008.

His attorney, Mulder, is known as a "Super Lawyer," according to a point system among his peers.

The victim is a Masuk graduate from the Class of '96.

A Stabbing Incident

Canfield has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, causing serious bodily injury and family violence for an incident that took place on Oct. 26,2010.

According to the arrest warrant, police responded to a 9-1-1 call at an apartment at Carrollton Parkway in the city of Carrolton in Denton County, Texas.

"The male caller stated that he stabbed his girlfriend because she wanted to leave," the warrant said. "The male identified himself to the 9-1-1 operator as Nicholas Canfield."

Officers said the then 32-year-old female victim was laying on the kitchen floor, bleeding from a stab wound in her abdomen. She told firefighters at the scene that she believed she had been stabbed twice.

Police said the knife was on the floor on the other side of the kitchen and described it as having a blade approximately eight to 10 inches long and two inches wide at its widest point.

The woman was transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and immediately taken to the operating room for surgery, according to the warrant. Canfield was placed under arrest.

He was released on $50,000 bond.

A Second Arrest

A protective order barred Canfield from being within 200 yards of his ex-girlfriend's home or place of employment and it was valid from November 24,2010 until December 17,2010, according to a second warrant for Canfield's arrest served on Dec. 15,2010.

On Dec. 14,2010, Canfield allegedly violated the protective order by going to the victim's place of employment, the warrant states.

He allegedly left handwritten messages in notebooks left on the victim's car in the parking lot of 3440 Sojourn Drive, Carrollton, Dallas County, Texas. The victim stated that Canfield hid behind a car in the parking lot to watch her retrieve the notebooks, according to the warrant.

The warrant says, "Excerpts from the notebook included the following: 'I planned to have sex with you one final time before we died. I planned to kill us and rape you.' and 'I wanted to kill you and kill myself.'"

Officers arrested Canfield at 2449 Midway Road, 0.3 miles from the victim's place of employment, according to the warrant.