Crime & Safety
Middletown Woman Sentenced For Stabbing Boyfriend
Middletown's Karen Appleton was sentenced to 12 to 25 years in prison for stabbing her boyfriend multiple times. Alleged infidelities led to the incident.
A Bucks County woman who was found guilty in August of repeatedly stabbing her boyfriend in their Middletown apartment over alleged infidelities is heading to prison.
Bucks County Common Pleas Court Judge Wallace H. Bateman, Jr., sentenced Middletown resident Karen Appleton on Oct. 14 to 12 to 25 years in prison stemming from an attack in February in which Appleton, 48, stabbed Eugene Pierce 12 times in the apartment they shared after learning Pierce had been seeing someone else romantically.
During her jury trial this summer, Appleton testified that she had been under the influence of sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication during the incident, and didn’t recall attacking Pierce in their home, according to local news reports.
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A look at her criminal docket sheet shows that the Common Pleas Court jury convicted Appleton of aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime, while they acquitted her of attempted murder of the first degree.
She faced a minimum of two years and a maximum of five on the weapons charge and a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 on the aggravated assault charge, court records show.
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Additional charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person had been withdrawn prior to trial.
A criminal complaint filed by Middletown Detective Gregory Kneiss at the time of Appleton’s arrest in February stated that Appleton cut and stabbed Pierce multiple times with kitchen knives in the face, neck, arms, hands and abdomen.
The judge was quoted in local news reports as saying he would have tacked on even more time at sentencing if it wasn’t for the fact that Appleton is the mother to two daughters.
Court records show that Appleton was arrested on Feb. 25. Bail had originally been posted at 10 percent of $75,000, but it was later revoked.
Appleton was formally arraigned in early May.
Appleton was represented in court by Bucks County public defender Bradley Bastedo, according to the public defender’s office.
Bastedo did not return a call from Levittown Patch seeking comment.
According to Appleton's court docket sheet, she was ordered not to have any contact with the victim of her attack, and she is required to undergo drug, alcohol and mental health treatment.
