Azusa Man's Conviction For Stabbing His Girlfriend Upheld

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld an Azusa man's conviction for stabbing and slashing his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend when they met to discuss their relationship.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the evidence that Jason Scott Gustin planned the Aug. 22, 2016, attack, was "overwhelming."

"... Defendant came armed with two knives, which he concealed in his pocket until the moment he attacked her," the panel noted, adding that his selection of a remote spot for the encounter strongly suggests that he planned the attack.

The teenage girl had broken up with Gustin, then 18, less than a week earlier, but she agreed to meet with him to discuss the relationship, according to prosecutors.

While sitting in a car in an unincorporated area near Arcadia, Gustin pulled out a knife and slashed his ex-girlfriend's throat. He then began strangling her and stabbed her in the back of the neck and along the entire length of her right thigh, according to Deputy District Attorney Presciliano Duran.

The girl ran from the car to a nearby convalescent hospital, where several nurses applied pressure to her wounds and called 911, according to the appellate court panel's 18-page ruling.

The girl needed physical therapy to regain use of her injured leg, and she has permanent scars on her neck, arm and leg, the justices noted.

Gustin was treated an hour or two later by paramedics for a deep knife wound to his wrist, and two knives recovered from his pants pockets were turned over to law enforcement, according to the ruling.

He was convicted in September 2018 of attempted murder and mayhem, with jurors finding true allegations that he inflicted great bodily injury under circumstances involving domestic violence and used a knife during the commission of the crime.

Gustin is serving a potential life prison term.

— City News Service contributed to this report.