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SALT LAKE CITY — By all accounts, Cody Augustine is polite and respectful. But it wasn't enough to keep him out of prison.
"It's hard for me to conceive of anything like this," 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton said before sentencing the man Friday to three years to life in prison for a 2008 attack involving a knife and a battle ax.
She also ordered Augustine, 23, to pay full restitution. He was given credit for his time spent in jail, which Augustine's attorney said amounts to 997 days.
I know what you decide will be just and fair.
–Cody Augustine
Augustine was charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, after he and a friend attacked a man who Augustine believed had given his girlfriend a sexually transmitted disease.
At his trial in February, Augustine talked about how "distraught" he was when he began to think he had contracted an STD. He and Stapley, armed with a knife and a medieval battle ax, then went to beat the man.
The judge called the victim in the case, then-17-year-old Justin Ennis, a "complete victim" as he was "lured out of his home" by Augustine's girlfriend. She said that while she agreed with Augustine's attorney that the man was "respectful and courteous," she said she could not ignore the facts of the case.
Augustine apologized in court to the victim and to everyone else involved and told the judge he would do everything she asked.
"I know what you decide will be just and fair," he said.
Ennis was not at the sentencing hearing.
Augustine's attorney, Randy Richards, argued for more jail time to be followed by probation. He told the judge that Augustine was the most polite, respectful client that he has ever had in 28 years of practicing law.
"He's always accepted responsibility and always had remorse," Richards said after the hearing.
At his trial, Augustine said it was never his intent to kill Ennis, thinking that they would simply exchange words and maybe throw a few punches. He said he had no idea that Stapley exited the vehicle just behind him when they got to Ennis' home, much less that his friend was yielding a battle ax.
He testified that he and Ennis engaged in a brief physical fight before Ennis broke free.
He said he then saw Ennis and Stapley in a struggle and acknowledged that he chased Ennis down, but said he only had a knife on him because of some work he did unpacking boxes at his job. He said he didn't know why he stabbed Ennis multiple times.
Stapley was sentenced in January 2009 to three years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of attempted murder. He was called as a witness in Augustine's trial but refused to testify. Atherton ordered that he and Augustine both contribute to pay restitution.
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
