Rainier man pleads guilty in summer stabbing

A 30-year-old Rainier man could serve seven years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to a 2015 stabbing.

Jeremiah W. Bell appeared before Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon and pleaded guilty to second-degree assault while armed with a deadly weapon.

Bell was charged with first-degree assault after his arrest in August. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge as part of a plea deal.

Court documents show Bell has 20 prior criminal convictions, with the earliest dating to 1997. He is a registered sex offender.

Dixon said that because of Bell’s criminal history, the standard sentencing range would be between five years, three months and seven years — plus another year for the deadly weapon enhancement.

Deputy Prosecutor Jack Jones said Thursday that he would recommend a seven-year sentence. Bell will be sentenced at a later date.

Court documents give the following account of events leading to Bell’s arrest:

Thurston County deputies responded to a mobile home in the 400 block of Reflection Lane Southeast in Rainier after a woman reported her boyfriend had been stabbed. The man was stabbed in the armpit and was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, where he was treated and released early the next day.

Man told deputies that he and his girlfriend were visiting a friend at the mobile home when he tried to break up a fight between Bell and another man. He said Bell pulled a pocket knife and tried to stab him, so he decided to leave.

As the man was leaving, he saw Bell approach him holding a large hunting knife and a metal club. The man told deputies that Bell was “going crazy” and trying to stab him. He said he fell to the ground and Bell stabbed him in the armpit and hit him with the club.

By the time deputies arrived, Bell was gone.

Bell was later found hiding under a mobile home. He cut a hole in the floor of the home and his girlfriend had pushed a bed over it after he climbed through.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Rainier man pleads guilty in summer stabbing."