Stabbing nets man 15 years

Sitting on the witness stand in Charlottesville Circuit Court, Ann Christine Dobson held up a picture of her daughter and slain son.

Dobson said she hadn’t brought her 11-year-old daughter to court Thursday “to spare her the heartache.” Joshua Lee Gibson, the girl’s brother, was killed Sept. 30, 2008, outside a Friendship Court apartment.

“Her world was turned upside down,” Dobson testified.

The man convicted of stabbing Joshua Gibson, Lamont Jermaine Blakey, was given a 15-year active prison sentence Thursday. Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire also suspended an additional three years of prison time and ordered restitution and three years of post-release supervision.

The 15-year sentence is what a jury recommended after finding Blakey guilty of second-degree murder May 7.

Defense attorney Charles Weber said his client doesn’t plan to appeal at this time. Blakey, 26, previously claimed he was acting in self-defense.

Witnesses testified Blakey got into a fight with Gibson and a group of men next to the train tracks near Water Street earlier that day. Tabitha Carter had asked the group to retrieve her keys from Blakey, her then-fiance, with whom she was arguing.

Carter testified that a rumor had started a few days earlier that she and Gibson were involved, but it was untrue.

After the incident with the keys, Gibson and two men walked Carter home. Blakey was there, witnesses testified, and got into a fight with the men. Blakey went inside at one point and came back outside with a kitchen knife.

Witnesses testified Gibson tripped as he was trying to get away from Blakey. Elizabeth Killeen, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said in court that Gibson was crab walking away from Blakey, who straddled Gibson and stabbed him in the chest.

Life hasn’t been the same since for Gibson’s family, which includes a child Gibson’s girlfriend was expecting at the time of his death.

“My days are not the same,” Dobson testified. “We’re so sad and empty.”

Before Hogshire ruled on his case, Blakey rose and faced his victim’s family. He apologized and said he was remorseful. Blakey also said he hadn’t known that Gibson, 20, was going to be a father.

“I did not realize that at the time because of my ignorance and my hate,” Blakey said.

After he asked the Gibson family for forgiveness, Jon Gibson, the victim’s father, rose to his feet with a baby in his arms.

“Go to hell, [expletive],” he said, walking out the door with the infant.