Manchester woman sentenced for stabbing daughter
Nov. 5—A Manchester woman who stabbed her 12-year-old daughter in the neck was sentenced to between 12 and 30 years in the New Hampshire State Prison on Friday after taking a plea agreement, with the potential to earn time off the sentence by completing mental health programs.
Prosecutors said they sought a plea deal to spare the daughter, who survived, the potentially re-traumatizing experience of testifying about her attack in February 2021 — and because a psychological evaluation of the mother, Amanda Mitchell, persuaded Hillsborough County prosecutors to drop a charge of attempted murder. But the victim's father and the Manchester police chief were both unhappy about the agreement.
According to a police affidavit, Mitchell had been snuggling with her daughter when she went to sleep earlier the night of Feb. 18, 2021, but Mitchell got up and returned just after 1 a.m. with a small knife.
She slashed at the girl's throat, the girl told police, according to the affidavit, until the girl was able to slip past her out the door. Mitchell stabbed the girl's neck, just under her ear, and the girl wound up with cuts on her hand and arm.
Police were called, and the girl was rushed to the Elliot Hospital.
That night was chaos, said Jonathan Mitchell, the girl's father, making a statement to the court Friday.
It was snowing when he got a call in the early hours of the morning. He went to his estranged wife's apartment above a North End insurance office, then to the Elliot Hospital to be at his daughter's side.
"It's hard, getting a call and going to see your daughter in the hospital," Jonathan Mitchell said.
He said his daughter had everything she needed living with him, but she still got scared at night.
They had hoped Amanda Mitchell would spend 15, maybe 18 years in state prison.
"That's just how we feel about this case," he said.
The daughter, now 14, did not attend the hearing Friday.
Mental illness considerations
First Assistant County Attorney Shawn Sweeney said prosecutors believed Mitchell was competent to stand trial, but said the mental health evaluation would have made it difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mitchell was in her right mind during the attack and truly intended to kill her daughter.
Over a months-long negotiation, Sweeney said, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that Mitchell would plead to two counts of first-degree assault, with a prison sentence of between 12 and 30 years. After waiting in jail for almost two years before the sentencing, Mitchell will end up serving 10 years in state prison — or even less, if she receives time credit for participating in rehabilitative programs.
Judge David Anderson said he urged the lawyers earlier this fall to keep negotiating after he was presented with an agreement that would have meant 15 years in prison for Mitchell.
Sweeney acknowledged that the daughter, her father and Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg were unhappy with the length of the sentence. But, he said, the plea agreement would be less stressful to the child than the possibility of testifying at trial.
Mitchell sat still during the hearing, shackled in an orange jail uniform, wavy strawberry-blonde hair hanging down her back.
As the judge asked her standard questions to make sure she understood the plea agreement, Mitchell said she accepted responsibility. Yes, she said, she had stabbed her daughter.
The plea agreement specified that if the daughter wants to make contact with her mother, she can do so when she is an adult, but Mitchell is not to make any attempt to reach her daughter.
Anderson made sure Mitchell understood what no contact meant. No phone calls or electronic communications, he said, and no asking someone else to contact her daughter on her behalf.
"Yes," Mitchell said quietly, she understood.
"This is a really awful case," Anderson said "This is just a tragic set of circumstances."
He understood the family wanted a longer sentence, but said he also understood that testifying may not be in the best interest of the daughter.
Police chief upset
Aldenberg railed against the sentence to a small group of reporters outside the courtroom on Friday.
He was particularly upset that in plea negotiations, prosecutors dropped the charge of attempted murder.
"If that's not attempted murder I don't know what is. It's a completely unacceptable sentence," Aldenberg said.
He said testifying would have been difficult for the child, but said, "Make them make the argument," Aldenberg said, gesturing at public defenders Brian Civale and Michael Hammon, who had represented Mitchell, as they walked toward a stairwell.
"He can shake his head all he wants, as he walks away," Aldenberg said as they passed.
The state public defenders' office does not typically make statements to the press about cases.
Asked what role Mitchell's schizophrenia diagnosis should play in determining her guilt, Aldenberg said that was not for him to decide.
"That's for the defense to make that argument," Aldenberg said, adding, "I'm extremely sensitive to mental health."
He said he was also upset when he learned of the plea agreement Wednesday, and felt he should have been consulted earlier in the negotiation process.
Aldenberg also said he did not know if Amanda Mitchell had been involved with the Division of Children, Youth and Families.
