TRUMBULL COUNTY, OH - A man who was found guilty of stabbing a 37-year-old Jonathan Dixon in a shopping plaza in Niles was sentenced on Tuesday afternoon.

Fifty-three-year-old Kenyon Kellum will serve 8 to 12 years in prison, after a jury found him guilty on two felony counts of felonious assault.

At the hearing, the judge rejected the prosecution's request to label Kellum as a repeat violent offender. Judge Sarah Thomas Kovoor explained that Kellum had already served time for the crime prosecutors cited, which took place over 30 years ago.

Dixon's father, John Dixon, delivered a victim impact statement during the hearing. He also presented photos of Jonathan before and after the stabbing. 

The father shared that his son, who is also a father to a young boy, is paralyzed, has brain damage, and will require long-term care.

Kellum was also charged with attempted murder, but the jury returned a not guilty verdict on that charge.

The two felonious assault charges stem from an incident in the Gentry Center shopping plaza on Route 422 in Niles, where Kellum stabbed a man in the neck during an argument.

Kellum then fled the scene, but was soon found and arrested at a hotel less than a mile away from the plaza.

Kellum's co-defendant, Zulekha Berry, is currently facing an attempted murder charge. Her case was bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury in February. The grand jury has yet to return a verdict in her case.

RELATED COVERAGE: