Man who threw knife at woman sentenced to prison

A Baltimore man who lodged a knife in a woman’s skull was sentenced to prison in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
“You stand before me on unlawful assault but it could be murder as the knife pierced the skull of the victim,” Judge Phillip Gaujot said at the sentencing hearing. “At any rate, because of your propensity to commit violent crimes, proven by the criminal history that I’ve seen, and considering the pending charges in Maryland, I don’t feel at this point that you’re an appropriate candidate for alternative sentencing.”
Gaujot sentenced 25-year-old Zachary Nipper to one to five years in prison, the statutory sentence for unlawful assault, the crime he pleaded guilty to on July 10. Gaujot noted Nipper fought in school and his tendency to fight continued even after he dropped out in the 11th grade.
“I did come up here for a girlfriend and things didn’t go as well as I planned it to go and it was just a big, big mistake,” Nipper said Tuesday. “And I apologize to the court for coming to the court with this matter.”
Nipper told Gaujot he’s enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous and a GED program since his plea hearing to “get myself together.” He admitted to having an alcohol problem during the plea hearing.
Nipper’s attorney, Tom Kroger, asked the court to sentence Nipper to probation. Nipper plans to return to Baltimore to be with his family. He is facing 18 months behind bars for a probation violation as well as a potential 10-year sentence in Maryland.
“He’s definitely facing jail time there,” Kroger said.
It would be easy to let Maryland have Nipper, however the state has often chosen not to prosecute even serious crimes he’s been charged with, Assistant Prosecutor Gabrielle Mucciola said. In light of that, it wouldn’t be appropriate to let Nipper off the hook and assume Maryland would deal with him.
She reminded Gaujot of Nipper’s combativeness when he was arrested and that he gave Westover police a false name. Mucciola said the incident was no accident.
Nipper’s girlfriend, Kizzie Hardy, and her mother, the victim, have said Nipper didn’t stab the victim, but that the knife became lodged in her head when he threw a dish strainer full of dishes, including the knife.
Hardy called The Dominion Post following the paper’s initial report on the incident and told her side of the story.
Mucciola requested Nipper be given the statutory sentence of one to five years.