BANGOR (AP) – An 18-year Bangor man who has said he wants to join his older brothers in prison was sentenced Thursday for attempted murder for stabbing a teenager last May.

Aaron Heath was ordered to serve 10 years in prison following his guilty plea in Penobscot County Superior Court. Another 10 years of the sentence was suspended.

Heath has told police that he wants to follow in the footsteps of his brothers, both of whom are convicted killers serving time at the Maine State Prison. Carl Wayne Heath, 24, of Fryeburg and Smokey Heath Jr., 29, of Fairfield are serving 40-year sentences for separate incidents in which they killed their victims with a hammer.

Aaron Heath will serve his time at the Maine State Prison in Warren or the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

Heath stabbed a 16-year-old boy at an Essex Street apartment house last May. The knife penetrated 7 inches deep and missed by 1 centimeter a major artery that would have resulted in death had it been punctured, a doctor testified Thursday.

The youth, who lost a kidney and suffered a liver laceration, was lucky he didn’t die, Penobscot County Deputy District Attorney Mike Roberts said during the three-hour sentencing hearing.

“Mr. Heath did everything he could do to make this a homicide,” he said.

A case worker for the state said Heath was abused by his parents and siblings as a child and was taken into state custody at age 5.

He was hit with sticks, electrical cords and belts, locked in the basement and forced to crawl inside dead animal carcasses, Wendy Karnes testified. After being taken from his home, Heath had 44 placements in hospitals and foster homes over the next 13 years, Karnes said.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hjelm said despite Heath’s history of abuse, his violent attack was unprovoked and premeditated. Much like Heath was exploited as a child, Heath exploited the victim, the judge said.

Heath, who was 17 at the time of the stabbing, agreed to be tried as an adult. He apologized to the victim, the victim’s family and the community.

“I know what I did was wrong,” he said.

Copy the Story Link