photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Wynn S. A. Anderson

A Lawrence man has been convicted in the repeated stabbing of his roommate at their home on Oak Hill Avenue in 2016.

Wynn S. A. Anderson, 39, pleaded no contest to attempted aggravated battery, a felony, according to Dorothy Kliem, trial assistant with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

Anderson was scheduled to face a jury on Monday but entered the plea the week before, on Wednesday. His sentencing is set for March 5, before Douglas County District Court Judge Kay Huff.

Initially, Anderson was charged with attempted second-degree murder.

The stabbing happened on Nov. 17, 2016, at Anderson’s home, 1518 Oak Hill Ave.

At a preliminary hearing in January 2017, covered by the Journal-World, the victim said he’d been staying at the house for several months. James W. Conlon, 52 at the time of the stabbing, said he came home the night before to find Anderson trading pills with a friend in exchange for methamphetamine, then smoked methamphetamine with the group.

In the early-morning hours, Conlon said Anderson called him out on the front porch and swung a knife at him, stabbing him first in the stomach, then in the back and the chest as he tried to escape through the house.

At some point in the attack, Conlon testified, Anderson bit off a part of his ear, growled and “spit it in front of me.”

A police sergeant noted that Conlon’s intestines were “lying outside” of his body when police arrived, according to the affidavit in support of Anderson’s arrest.

Conlon was flown to a hospital, where he spent about two months and underwent at least four surgeries, he testified.

Lawrence police found Anderson with blood on his clothes about six blocks away from the house and arrested him.

In July 2018, Anderson posted $105,000 bond and remained free for about two months, according to court records. However, in September he was arrested for violating his bond conditions, and his bond was revoked.

This week Anderson remained jailed with no bond.

photo by: Conrad Swanson

A home at 1518 Oak Hill Ave. was taped off Friday, Nov. 18, 2016, after police said a 52-year-old man was stabbed.