Sugar Creek man sentenced to 20 years for knife attack

JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. (KCTV) - A 30-year-old Sugar Creek man was sentenced Saturday for a 2021 knife attack of a woman in an Independence public park.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Saturday that Ronald L. Thompson pleaded guilty to first-degree assault as part of a plea agreement. A Jackson County judge sentenced Thompson to 20 years in prison for the assault conviction.

According to court records, Independence police responded on Dec. 23, 2021, to Mill Creek Park on N. River Boulevard in Independence. Police dispatch reported a woman screaming for help in the park screaming that she had been stabbed.

An officer found the woman suffering from cuts and a laceration to her neck. The woman named her attacker.