Greenbelt, Maryland – Joseph Axzavis Stewart, Sr. age 58, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty on February 14, 2017, to assault with a dangerous weapon, and to possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Chief of Police Robert D. MacLean of the U.S. Park Police.
According to Stewart’s plea agreement, on July 31, 2016, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Stewart stabbed an individual who was seated in the passenger seat of a friend’s truck at a construction site near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, where the friend worked. Stewart, who worked for the same construction company, previously had a brief romantic relationship with the individual’s friend. After other employees from the construction company intervened, Stewart fled the scene in a gray truck. The victim was transported to hospital, suffering from stab wounds to the arm and back. As a result of the stabbing, the victim underwent several surgeries, and lost feeling in the right arm. Law enforcement executed a search warrant and recovered the knife Stewart used to stab the victim from Stewart’s gray truck.
As part of his plea agreement, Stewart will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the loss of the victim.
Stewart and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement Stewart will be sentenced between eight and 12 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for July 5, 2017 at 9:30 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Park Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hollis R. Weisman and Thomas M. Sullivan, who are prosecuting the case.