City firefighter Chris Buttino washes blood from the sidewalk Friday afternoon on Main Street.
A city man was indicted Thursday afternoon for stabbing two men in August on Main Street causing one to be “placed in a medically induced coma,” according to court documents.
Matthew Sky Hewitt, 27, of 56 1/2 Groton Ave., was indicted on two felony assault charges, as well as misdemeanor third-degree criminal possession of a weapon with a previous criminal conviction.
Hewitt was convicted April 10 for misdemeanor resisting arrest, according to the indictment. The weapon was a butterfly-style knife Hewitt used to stab a 23-year-old city man and a Marine recruiter who jumped in to stop the fight, according to city police.
Hewitt stabbed the city man multiple times, causing the 23-year-old to spend "a period of weeks" in a hospital, according to the indictment. Hewitt stabbed the Marine, Jake S. Garrett, in the leg requiring stitiches, the indictment states. Garrett said in a phone interview following the stabbing that he was fine. The Marine quickly returned to work at the Main Street recruitment center, but walked with a cane for a few days.
While the indictment does not indicate what arrest Hewitt’s April conviction stemmed from, a search of The Cortland Voice archives revealed Hewitt was charged in February with resisting arrest and two felony counts of failing to register as a sex offender. He was arrested Feb. 13 after he led police on a Union Street foot chase, according to February city police statements. The officers were searching for Hewitt with a warrant after he failed to register his new South Avenue address and was 90 days late for his required photo update, according to the department.
When city police say Hewitt stabbed the 23-year-old city man and Marine recruiter in August on Main Street, another warrant was already issued against him for again failing to properly register as a sex offender, according to the department.
Hewitt was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse on Oct. 27, 2009 for having sexual contact with a nine-year-old girl, according to city police information posted on the city’s website. The online sex offender directory at Cortland.org lists Hewitt as a low-risk offender.
The 23-year-old man police say Hewitt stabbed was released from a hospital and was
active as of last week, said Lt. Michael Strangeway in a phone interview Friday. Strangeway could not say when he was released.
Court documents identify the man as Jonathan Jeffrey and a search of The Cortland Voice archives revealed Jeffrey faced a misdemeanor assault charge in May. In that case, Jeffrey punched and kicked a 45-year-old man alongside two other assailants, causing the man to seek treatment at Guthrie Regional Medical Center, according to the city police. When Jeffrey was arraigned on the misdemeanor assault charge, City Judge Elizabeth Burns noted a harassment case was also pending against Jeffrey.
The results of those two cases were not available Saturday.
