A former Roosevelt University student has been sentenced to three years probation for stabbing a classmate.
Lucas Wagoner, 20, was found guilty Thursday of two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon following a bench trial before Cook County Circuit Court Judge William Gamboney.
The judge acquitted Wagoner of an attempted murder charge and a third count of aggravated battery, according to court records.
Relatives of the victim, who said he required emergency surgery and three separate hospital admissions, were disappointed by the judge’s sentence.
“This punishment was lighter than the two-month prison sentence given to celebrity parents who fix their child’s college admission records,” the victim’s family wrote in an emailed statement to the Chicago Sun-Times.
In addition to probation, Wagoner was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and to get an evaluation by an anger management counselor, records show.
Wagoner was an 18-year-old pre-med student at Roosevelt University when he attacked the other student in a hallway between dorm rooms at the school’s Wabash Building, at 425 S. Wabash Ave.
Prosecutors had said that the December 2018 attack was unprovoked. Wagoner cut and stabbed the victim several times with a folding knife, causing the victim to suffer a collapsed lung, prosecutors said.
Wagoner’s attorney, Thomas Breen, said an argument over “teasing” between Wagoner and the victim, who were formerly friends, got out of hand.
After the victim texted Wagoner that he wanted to fight, Wagoner went to his dorm room and got a pocket knife with a 5-inch serrated blade because he was concerned his friend would overpower him, Breen said Friday.
Wagoner no longer attends Roosevelt University, but is continuing with college and still plans to pursue a career in medicine, Breen said. Breen added that his client currently works at a hospital.
The victim, who also is no longer a Roosevelt University student and currently works, has “terrible physical and emotional scars that will haunt him for the rest of his life,” his family said.
