An eastern Pennsylvania man was immediately sentenced to life in prison after a verdict rejected his self-defense claims and convicted him of first-degree murder for slashing and stabbing his girlfriend 40 times.
Thirty-three-year-old Jonathan Schaffer, of Allentown, claimed 31-year-old Lauren Wolstenholme attacked him with the knife in their Allentown apartment in September 2012, and that he stabbed her only to get her off him.
Police were called to the 400 block of South 18th Street at 1:40 a.m. after a reported domestic dispute. Investigators entered the home and discovered Wolstenholme's body. They found Schaffer armed with a knife in the master bedroom. He was taken into custody after he was hit by a stun gun.
He said he loved Wolstenholme, the mother of his child, and stabbed her only so she would get off him. Under cross-examination, he acknowledged stabbing her more than 40 times.
Schaffer's mother testified earlier that her son called and said he'd killed Wolstenholme, but she heard the victim in the background calling for help and exclaimed, "She's still alive!"
A Lehigh County jury deliberated for about an hour before returning the verdict Friday evening.
