Seattle stabber applauds judge for prison sentence: ‘You were right’

A man who stabbed a Seattle Marriot guest last year applauded the judge at his sentencing for putting him behind bars for two years — telling him that he was “right to give me time in prison.”

Job Quimpo, 43, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to undergo mental health and substance abuse treatment after he agreed to a plea deal for the stabbing and attempted mugging of Josh Pond last May, KOMO News reported Tuesday.

“You were right to give me time in prison,” Quimpo told the judge during the hearing earlier this month. Please be merciful, I was under the influence.”

“I’m just glad to see Mr. Pond recovered pretty good… I’m sorry to Josh Pond sincerely,” he told the victim, who attended the hearing.

Prosecutors said Quimpo confronted Pond as the man was waiting for a rideshare car outside the Marriott hotel.

Pond, an attorney who was in the city to attend some legal meetings, told the court that Quimpo demanded he give up his cellphone, and then he proceeded to stab the lawyer twice in the back.

“It was clearly close or had impacted my kidneys… one more millimeter, one more pound of force, or even just a sharper knife would have pierced my kidney,” Pond testified. “It would have resulted in a life threatening and at least a life-long injury.”

After stabbing Pond, Quimpo engaged in a standoff with police, yelling “I will not go to jail,” before he was taken into custody by the SWAT team.

Despite the injury and emotional impact the incident had on him and his family, Pond said he was pleased with the court’s sentence and asked Quimpo to use the prison time and court-ordered treatment to better himself.

“I hope and pray for a good recovery for Mr. Quimpo on all fronts – substance, mental health, and as a human .. whether or not 27 months is the right amount, I’ll defer to yourself, your honor, but I am very glad there is treatment,” Pond said during the hearing.

The conviction is only the latest for Quimpo, who has a history of arrests in King County.

Court records show Quimpo has been previously convicted of assault, burglary, criminal trespass, resisting arrest, obstruction, carrying a concealed dangerous knife, use of drug paraphernalia, criminal solicitation, theft and malicious mischief.

Pond’s stabbing came amid soaring crime rates in Seattle last year, which prompted more than a quarter-million residents to begin considering moving away from the Emerald City, according to the Seattle Times.