The man convicted of trying to murder a woman walking alone on a trail at Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park in a stabbing attack foiled by other park goers was sentenced Friday to 22 years in prison.
A jury found Nicholas Fitzgerald Matthew guilty of attempted first-degree murder in August for the February 2024 attack. Since then Matthew’s sentencing hearing has been repeatedly delayed, in part because of renewed questions over the defendant’s mental competency.
The woman who endured the attack, a local architect named Victoria Nizzoli, opted not to attend Friday’s hearing. In a victim-impact statement filed with the court, Nizzoli said she was exhausted from having her life revolve around the man who tried to murder her, and she refused to sacrifice any more of her time, energy and mental health on his behalf.
Nizzoli asked the court to give Matthew the maximum sentence — he faced a standard sentencing range of 17-22 years — but she said even that barely scratched the surface of what she felt would be equitable. Real justice, she said, would be getting back all the time she lost to the hospital stay, therapy appointments and canceled plans…