Man gets prison for stabbing, assault

A Culpeper man will spend more than 10 years in prison for stabbing a woman at Belle Court Apartments in July 2008 and assaulting a law-enforcement officer at the county jail in November 2008.

Shawn Michael Banks, 30, was found guilty of the crimes in July.

This week, Culpeper County Circuit Court Judge John G. Berry sentenced him to 15 years for one count of malicious wounding and three years for one count of assaulting a law-enforcement officer. Berry suspended all but 10 years and six months of the sentences.

Sarah Banks testified during the trial that she had arrived at their grandmother’s Belle Court apartment around noon July 26, 2008, and saw Shawn Banks in another room but did not talk to him. She said she was sitting at the dinner table when she felt a sharp pain in her back.

She fell out of her chair and saw Shawn Banks holding a knife, according to a news release from the Culpeper County commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

She said she saw him lunge at her again with the knife and she fled to one of the bedrooms for safety.

Town police found her bleeding and lying face down in a bedroom when they arrived.

The hallway and walls leading to the bedroom were smeared with blood, according to Town Police Sgt. Julie Brooking’s testimony.

Sarah Banks was transported to Culpeper Regional Hospital and was transferred to the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, where she spent nine days for treatment of rib and lung injuries.

Shawn Banks was arrested at the scene without incident.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Walther asked Berry to deliver a stricter sentence than guidelines recommend because of Sarah Banks’ injury and the use of a weapon.

Guidelines recommend a high-end sentence of about six years, according to the release.

“The court’s sentence today sent a decisive message that crimes of violence with weapons will not be tolerated,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close said in the release.

The charge of assaulting a law-enforcement officer stemmed from a Nov. 14, 2008, incident at the jail. Authorities say Banks spit on a deputy who came to check on him after a surveillance camera malfunctioned.