Joshua Lee Collins, left, sits alongside his defense attorney, Richard Nash, during his sentencing hearing in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Brigham Anderson reads a victim letter onto the record during a sentencing hearing for Joshua Lee Collins in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Joshua Lee Collins is escorted out of a courtroom in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas following his sentencing hearing on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Joshua Lee Collins, left, sits alongside his defense attorney, Richard Nash, during his sentencing hearing in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Brigham Anderson reads a victim letter onto the record during a sentencing hearing for Joshua Lee Collins in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Joshua Lee Collins is escorted out of a courtroom in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas following his sentencing hearing on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
IRONTON Ƶ A man who was convicted of 11 felonies after stabbing the principal of South Point Elementary School was sentenced in Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday.
Joshua Lee Collins, 44, was found guilty of felonious assault, attempted murder, seven counts of kidnapping, inducing panic, and illegal conveyance or possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone following a bench trial last month.
CollinsƵ defense attorney Richard Nash asked the judge for a minimum sentence on some of the charges, saying the stabbing of Principal William Christian was an Ƶisolated incidentƵ and a Ƶmomentary lapse of reasonƵ by Collins while worrying about his son.
Judge Andrew Ballard sentenced Collins to 39 1/2 to 45 years in prison, adding together consecutive sentences from each of the 11 charges. The sentence was longer than the request for sentencing made by Prosecuting Attorney Brigham Anderson, who asked for a total of 38 to 43 1/2 years.
ƵFor whatever reason the choices were made that day, Mr. Collins, to do what you did Ƶ and we all saw what you did on the video Ƶ that may never be known to anybody,Ƶ Ballard said.
ƵBut I can tell you what I witnessed was an act of just abhorrent character to where, after a man was violently stabbed, you stalked him through a cafeteria and chose to terrorize a human being and also placed these victims who were named or who were identified with an individual account, plus every child and staff member in that school through one of the most unimaginable circumstances that this community has ever seen associated in the setting of a public school.Ƶ
Ballard also denied a motion by the defense to have a transcript of the grand juryƵs deliberation provided to the Court of Appeals as Nash requested. Ballard said, if Nash moves forward with an appeal and the court wants to see a transcript, that is now preserved, and they can request it.
Anderson read one letter during the hearing on behalf of a victim.
ƵOctober 24, 2024, had a profound, lasting impact on administrators, teachers, staff, parents and most of all, students of South Point Elementary. We all refer to it as Ƶthat day,ƵƵ Anderson read in the letter.
The letter painted a picture of students hiding under desks with scissors, parents waiting to hear information, and teachers praying and attempting to keep children calm.
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