Tampa man convicted in knife attack

Friday, July 1, 2005

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Matthew Fowler awaits sentencing after his conviction.

A Tampa man awaits sentencing after his conviction Thursday for a knife attack at a doughnut shop.

A jury found Matthew Fowler guilty of attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, and attempted carjacking.

Third grade teacher Brenda Hill took the stand at Fowler's trial to describe what Fowler did to her two years ago.

Hill had just picked up doughnuts from a Tampa Krispy Kreme, when Fowler appeared at her car door with a knife. She tried to hand him money; he cursed at her.

"You're going to take me where I want to go," Hill said Fowler said.

Hill believed leaving with Fowler would likely mean losing her life.

"My shoulder twitched and it hit the horn and went 'beep' and that's when I started laying on the horn and saying 'help, help, help,'" Hill said.

Hill says Fowler, apparently enraged, stabbed her. But she didn't stop screaming and honking. After Fowler left, Hill walked from her truck inside the doughnut shop.

"I started saying 'help, help, I've been stabbed,'" she said.

Prosecutors showed jurors a picture of the doughnut shop table where Hill lay, waiting for medics. As she lay on the table, she knew she was wounded badly. The knife went all the way into her abdomen.

Hill was in critical condition by the time she got to the hospital. As doctors were saving her life, police officers caught Fowler.

A date for the sentencing has not yet been set.

Click here to e-mail Chris Hawes, the TV reporter for this story.