By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
JOPLIN, Mo. —
A Joplin man who became so angry when his roommate squirted him with a garden hose that he stabbed his roommate in the back with a butcher knife has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Today in Jasper County Circuit Court, Judge Gayle Crane sentenced William H. McCallister Jr., 66, to the prison term on a charge of first-degree assault after a plea agreement was reached that dropped a second count of armed-criminal action.
McCallister was charged in connection with the stabbing of Larry D. Buckhammon, 52, on Sept. 11, 2011, after an argument in the yard of McCallister’s home at 501 1/2 N. Galena Ave.
McCallister, who was arrested in Landreth Park a short time after the incident, admitted to authorities that he stabbed Buckhammon in the lower back with a butcher knife after getting sprayed with the hose.
A probable-cause affidavit states that a detective, during an interview, asked him if he intended to kill Buckhammon. McCallister said he did.
“I have a temper,’’ he told the detective, and went on to say that he belongs in jail.
The affidavit states that McCallister had a long record of charges for assault, assault with a deadly weapon and murder.
