Man Sentenced For Near-Fatal Attack On Girlfriend

A Bristol Borough man has been sentenced to serve eight and a half to 17 years in state prison for violently attacking his then-girlfriend last year.

James Anton, 36, was sentenced Monday by President Judge Jeffrey L. Finley after pleading guilty in April to aggravated assault, simple assault and possession of a weapon, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

According to authorities, Anton stabbed his then-girlfriend Stephanie Brehmer in the 200 block of New Brook Street in Bristol early last September at a friend’s house. Brehmer, a 43 year old, suffered several, life-threatening stab wounds to her chest and throat area.

“You may not be an evil person, but you do have some evil within you,” Finley told Anton before imposing the sentence.

Anton told the court the couple was drinking all day and even talking about moving in together before the stabbing. At some point, the conversation turned bad and turned physical.

“I fell to the floor, and I saw the knife on the floor and I reacted,” Anton said.

“Anton stabbed Brehmer multiple times with a folding pocket knife that he said he used for cutting boxes in his job as a mover. He fled the house after the assault,” according to a statement from the district attorney’s office.

A bloodied Brehmer managed to flee the violent attack and ran several blocks to Phinny McGee’s bar at Filmore Street and Farragut Avenue. She collapsed and was rushed to Aria Health’s Torresdale campus where emergency life-saving surgery was performed.

“She is lucky to be alive,” Detective Sgt. Randy Morris of the Bristol Borough Police Department said of Brehmer at the time of Anton’s arrest.

At the time of the knife attack, Anton was on probation for stalking an ex-girlfriend and threatening to hurt her.  He also was previously convicted of burglary and simple assault.

“You can’t control the rage, the jealousy, inside of you,” Finley told Anton. “You stabbed a woman you claim to love five or six times in such a way that she is lucky to be alive.”

Anton received high marks from prison officials who noted he had been assisting other prisoners with personal needs and representing his cell block in meetings with prison officials.

Anton was out of a drug recovery home in Bristol in the time leading up to the day of the attack.

At Anton’s sentencing, Brehmer asked to speak with the 36 year old before he was led away by sheriff’s deputies but was turned down. Finley said she would have to talk to state prison officials to see if she could exchange letters with Brehmer while he was locked up.