Man gets 7 years for hatchet attack on wife - judge not amused by "alibi"

A Port Richey, Florida man was sentenced to 7 years in prison followed by 3 years of probation last Friday, April 16, after attacking his wife with a hatchet, and trying to pretend to jurors at his trial that the attack was accidental, coming after he attempted to move furniture.

On June 8, 2008, investigators say, [now 43 year old Daniel]Stuckey attacked his wife at their home at 10018 Old Orchard Lane in Port Richey. The couple's two daughters - Dominique, 16, and Danielle, 9 - testified during the one-day trial that they were in bed with their mother at the time of the incident, . Dominique Stuckey awoke and saw their father carrying the hatchet toward their mother and, screaming, the girl tried to stop him.

Antoinette said she woke up because of the screaming and that her husband started swinging and cursing at her.

Stuckey said that while the argument heated up, he had the hatchet, used to move furniture, in his hand, and it dropped and hit her arm. Stuckey could not explain why there was a gash above her eye.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence, 15 years for the 2nd degree Florida felony, while defense attorneys asked for a downward departure. It appeared that Stuckey got off, as he was convicted of the aggravated battery charge after acquittal of a more serious attempted murder charge, which carried a 30 year maximum.

Pasco County Circuit Judge Michael Andrews berated Stuckey for sticking to his story even after his conviction. "I simply cannot buy this argument that you continue to make that you didn't intend to use the hatchet," .It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever." He continued after sentencing. "I wish I could show you how I could move furniture with a hatchet," Stuckey said, before being led off into the Florida Department Of Corrections.