A 38-year-old woman was sentenced to at least one year in prison Tuesday after she admitted to stabbing her boyfriend in the shoulder with a “bayonet-style” knife in their Norwich home and then contacting the victim from jail.
Dressed in a sweater and jeans with her wrists handcuffed, Amanda Zanis, 38, appeared in Windsor Superior Court Tuesday. She hung her head and quietly replied “guilty” to the charges of aggravated domestic assault, obstruction of justice and violation of her conditions of release. The plea deal carries a one- to eight-year prison sentence for the assault charge, a one- to-five-year sentence for the obstruction charge and a three- to six-month sentence for the violation charge.
Zanis had initially been charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree aggravated domestic assault and held without bail.
Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Mann ordered Zanis, who also had lived in Danbury, N.H., to serve the sentences concurrently, meaning she could serve as little as one year before she is eligible for parole.
The victim, Pete Juricek, addressed the court briefly on Tuesday, saying that the sentence was “on the higher end.” He declined to comment after the proceedings.
“(Juricek) has chosen to forgive her,” Windsor State’s Attorney David Cahill said, adding that the state is still concerned that Zanis could be a threat to the community at large and that she needs mental health treatment when she is out on parole.
“She has trouble regulating her emotions,” he said.
The couple met on line and had been living together in an apartment on New Boston Road in Norwich for about six months when Zanis stabbed Juricek out of jealousy after he told her he was getting back together with his ex-wife, police had said in an affidavit.
Her attorney, Brian Marsicovetere, said in court that she expresses “sorrow” over the incident, adding that her ability to take responsibility for the assault “speaks to deterrence in the long run.”
He said that Zanis is mother to 13- and 15-year-old children, which will keep her “focused and motivated.”
The charges stem from an incident on Sept. 12, when Zanis and Juricek got into an argument at their home in Norwich, Cahill said in court Tuesday. Zanis wielded a “bayonet-style” knife, which she used to stab Juricek in the shoulder. Juricek had trouble breathing and had to have surgery as a result of the assault, Cahill said.
Zanis was taken into custody and was being held in Chittenden County Correctional Center where she used a phone to contact Juricek 90 times, violating an order from the court to not have any contact with her boyfriend, according to a news release from Vermont State Police earlier this month. At one point she asked him to falsely tell authorities that he had no memory of the attack, Cahill said. The calls resulted in state police charging Zanis with obstruction and violating the conditions of her release in early December.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or at 603-727-3216.