West Deptford Man Sentenced To Prison For Stabbing Girlfriend

A West Deptford man with a history of domestic violence has been sentenced to at least 19 years in prison for stabbing of his girlfriend, police said Thursday.

Jacob Rodriguez, 37, was sentenced on attempted murder and two child endangering charges, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.

Rodriguez stabbed and slashed his girlfriend dozens of times in her West Deptford apartment on June 22, 2011, according to the prosecutor's office.

Brittany Hickman told a judge Friday that he was whispering in her ear, "This is all your fault. You could have loved me more. You’re going to die today.”

During the attack, Hickman, 28, hospitalized 19 days recovering from the nearly fatal knifing that Rodriguez called “jealous rage,” said she heard her 4-year-old son cry out to Rodriguez, “We need our mommy!”

As she spoke, Rodriguez, in court for his sentencing, bent over and hid his face on the counsel table next to his lawyer, according to the prosecutor's office.

“I am also his daughter’s mother,”  she told Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson.  “I don’t want him to be in jail forever.”

While she wanted a trial for Rodriguez, Hickman said it would have required 8-year-old son to testify about what he saw.  “I couldn’t protect him the first time, but I can this time,” she said.

Despite the “very horrific thing I went through,” Hickman said,  “I want my kids to know mommy’s not a victim.  Mommy’s a survivor.”

The moving victim impact statement had its effect on Judge Allen-Jackson. “You are remarkable,”  the judge told Hickman.

Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Staci Scheetz detailed the ferocity of the attack that led to attempted murder and child endangering charges against Rodriguez, who was arrested in Runnemede the same night and has been jailed in default of bail since then.

Sheetz said it met the “aggravating factor,” considered in sentencing, of a crime committed in an “especially cruel and depraved manner.” In addition, Rodriguez had a prior conviction  in 2003 for assault with a weapon, she said.

Before sentencing, Rodriguez told the court: “I really regret what happened that day” but Judge Allen-Jackson said she believed his sorrow was “because he was going to jail.”

Rodriguez also was ordered to pay $24,435 in restitution for Hickman’s medical treatment and he was ordered to have no contact with the victim and none “short of a court order” with her children.

Rodriguez, who served time in state prison for a previous conviction for aggravated assault with a weapon, had been charged with stalking and harassment on June 23, 2011, and Hickman took out a temporary restraining order against him, though that restraining order was later withdrawn.

The stalking and harassment charges were remanded to West Deptford's municipal court, where they were put on a six-month hold on Jan. 18, 2011, and would have been dismissed had no other incidents occurred.

Hickman, who was critically injured in the attack, was found semiconscious and bleeding on a doorstep outside the R building at the complex by police, where she had reached a neighbor, who called 911.

Two children in the household, a 5-year-old son of Hickman’s and a 2-year-old daughter, who is the child of Hickman and Rodriguez, had been placed through the state Division of Youth and Family Services with relatives.