CENTENNIAL, Colo — A man who stabbed another man in 2020 was sentenced Thursday to 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to an assault charge as part of a plea agreement.
Aurora Police said Steve Sinclair, 33, used a knife to stab 29-year-old Michael Conner, who was treated for injuries including a collapsed lung after the August 2020 attack near East Alameda Avenue and South Sable Boulevard.
An arrest affidavit says Conner, who is white, told police while at the hospital that Sinclair, who is Black, shouted "Black lives matter!" before stabbing him.
The video above is our original reporting on the incident
Police said witnesses saw Sinclair walk up to Conner and say, "I'm going to kill you and your dog." One witness said Conner tried to run away and defended himself with a stick.
Sinclair continued saying, “Black lives matter” to police when they arrived, according to the first officer on scene. That officer wrote that Sinclair had his hands up and said “I stabbed him, I’m a psychopath,” refused to sit down and “insisted” that officers should shoot him before he was eventually arrested.
Sinclair originally faced an attempted first-degree murder charge and one count of bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury.
On Thursday, according to court records, Sinclair pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing serious bodily injury. He was sentenced to 10 years in probation along with a 10-year suspended prison sentence, which means any violation of his probation could result in prison time. All other charges were dismissed.
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