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HAMILTON — It took a jury 20 minutes Monday afternoon, July 21, to find Walter Thomas guilty of the March beating and stabbing of his former girlfriend.

The Middletown, who man had a prior conviction in 1994 for stabbing to death another girlfriend, turned to his victim and apologized for the attack before sentencing in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

"I ask for forgiveness. I mean it from my heart," Thomas said to Donna Mathers.

Thomas was convicted of felonious assault, possession of cocaine and abduction for stabbing Mathers in the back with a butcher knife on March 26 at her sister's Sixth Avenue residence in Middletown. Thomas had a bag of cocaine that he dropped when police arrested him.

Judge Michael Sage sentenced Thomas to 15 years in prison.

"There is something about your personality I find frightening," said Sage, adding if Thomas is placed in certain situations he is a killer.

Defense attorney Greg Peck said Thomas had suffered psychological problems as a result of being abused as a child.

Mather said she was satisfied with the sentence and said Thomas is a dangerous individual.

On the afternoon of March 26, Mathers said Thomas beat her with his fists and a chair before stabbing her. Then he led her by knifepoint into the yard and told her if she didn't keep quiet, he would "finish her off."

Mathers said during her testimony that she believed the threat to be credible because Thomas, also of Middletown, had "stabbed a woman to death in 1994."

Thomas served time in prison after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the stabbing death of his then-girlfriend Mary Allen.

But Thomas, 54, who testified in his own defense, claimed Mathers came at him with a knife and was stabbed during a struggle over the weapon.

According to prosecutors, Thomas was scheduled to stay with Mathers' sister after she returned home from a medical procedure but became agitated when he found the door locked.

Mathers, who had broke up with Thomas a month before, came to the Sixth Avenue residence after receiving his call to let Thomas in. The couple went into the kitchen where Mathers said Thomas became more upset when she would not take him to his mother's residence.

"He got up from the table and hit me real hard in the face," Mathers said, noting Thomas also hit her with a chair then "snatched" her and stabbed her in the back.

"I told him I will take you anywhere you want to go, but please don't kill me," Mathers said.

Thomas said after having words with Mathers in the kitchen, she said "hit me."

"I hit her, she dove to the ground," Thomas said, adding he then picked up a chair and hit her two or three times more.

At that point, Thomas said he was leaving the house when Mathers came up behind him with a knife. A struggle for the weapon led to the stabbing.

"She came at me with a knife. We wrestled and in the process of getting the knife, I stuck her," Thomas said. "I wasn't trying to hurt or kill her or nothing. I can't live with that. I can't live with the one now."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.