AUGUSTA — A Waterville woman will spend the next four years behind bars for her role in the stabbing of a woman in China last fall as part of a drug deal gone bad.

Tiffany Danielle Glidden, 20, had pleaded guilty last month to the charge of aggravated elevated assault in connection with the stabbing on Nov. 4 that left Kathryn Hopkins, now 24, with a knife in her stomach.

At that hearing, Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh told the judge that Glidden was an accomplice. A co-defendant, Carissa Butkewicz, 23, also of Waterville, did the stabbing while Glidden watched from behind a tree and then smashed the windshield of Hopkins’ vehicle as she started to drive away, according to police reports.

Glidden and Butkewicz had arranged to meet Hopkins in a remote area to buy drugs from her and planned to take her drugs or money, according to Cavanaugh.

Two black-and-white photos were listed as evidence in the file in Glidden’s Kennebec County Superior Court case. One photograph shows a large circular hole in the windshield on the passenger side of Hopkins’ car with cracks radiating down to the bottom and side of the windshield. The second photo depicts a bat with a black-wrapped handle lying among grass and weeds.

Under Glidden’s sentence, she’ll serve four years in prison and the remainder of the total 15-year sentence is suspended. She was also fined $300. Glidden’s initial prison term will be followed by four years of probation, but if the state proves she violates her probation terms, then she can be ordered to serve up to the full 11 years remaining.

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Glidden was originally charged with aggravated attempted murder, criminal attempted murder, aggravated assault and two counts of criminal conspiracy. Those charges were dismissed in exchange for the plea to the aggravated elevated assault charge.

Glidden had testified previously at a hearing where her attorney, Darrick Banda, sought to show a judge that Glidden had been questioned by police without an attorney present Nov. 5, 2014, at the Waterville police station even after she had requested an attorney. Banda’s suppression motion was denied on April 2.

Justice Robert Mullen wrote in his order that “the audio-visual recording makes clear that the defendant asked, ‘If I want a lawyer, what do I do?’ This question does not constitute an unambiguous assertion of the right to counsel and does not support Ms. Glidden’s motion to suppress.”

Mullen also concluded Glidden had voluntarily waived her right to counsel when she was advised of her rights.

Butkewicz was sentenced April 7 to serve an initial seven years in prison of an underlying 15-year sentence.

“Ms. Glidden and her co-defendant were convicted of the same offense, but Ms. Glidden cooperated fully with the investigation from the beginning, which the state and the court took into consideration,” District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Wednesday. “Ms. Glidden’s sentence is three years shorter than her co-defendant.”

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Banda said Glidden expresses remorse for her actions.

Conditions of Glidden’s probation ban her from contact with both Butkewicz and Hopkins. Hopkins did not attend Glidden’s sentencing hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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