A judge sentenced a West Lampeter Township man to 73 months to 15 years in state prison last month after a jury found him guilty of stabbing his own father.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Merill Spahn told Russell Woodrow Adams-Nicholls, of the 300 block of Crestline Drive, that his actions in stabbing his 80-year-old father in the neck were “violent and inhumane.”

“There is no place in polite society for what you have done,” Judge Spahn told Adams-Nicholls, 45.

Had it not been for the miracles of modern science and medicine, Adams-Nicholls’ actions “could have been far more tragic,” Judge Spahn said.

A jury had found Adams-Nicholls guilty of aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person following a three-day trial in September. Adams-Nicholls repeatedly punched and then stabbed his father at his father’s Manheim Township residence the evening of Dec. 10, 2024.

Speaking to the court, Adams-Nicholls’ father described how the stabbing caused him significant blood loss and led to months of physical therapy in order to re-learn how to walk and left him with a massive scar across his neck from where his throat was slit. The injuries required life-saving surgery which necessitated that Adams-Nicholls’ father be intubated and sedated and left him hospitalized for four days.

And, Adams-Nicholls’ father said, he is also now left with “continuing fear” for himself and his family.

As to why he was attacked, however, Adams-Nicholls’ father told the court he was “clueless.”

Pausing at several points to wipe away tears, Adams-Nicholls was unable to explain to the court why he reacted so suddenly and so violently towards a man who First Assistant District Attorney Travis Anderson, who prosecuted the case, said had shown him “considerable grace” over the years.

Anderson told the court that not even Adams-Nicholls understands why he took the course of action that he did, “and that makes him a profoundly dangerous man.”

“I was wrong to bring aggression into the world,” Adams-Nicholls said when given the chance to address the court, saying his mind was “twisted” at the time by drugs and alcohol and that he “absolutely regret[s] all of it.”

Turning at one point to address his father, Adams-Nicholls apologized for his “terrible decisions” and said he hoped to some day regain his trust.

As part of his sentence Adams-Nicholls must pay more than $4,000 in restitution.

Assistant District Attorney Kylie Scott assisted in the prosecution.

Manheim Township Police Det. Jonathan Martin filed the charges.