*Albert Flick, 77, served 25 years in prison for stabbing his wife to death in front of her daughter in 1979, but he was released early for good behavior. He went on to develop a pattern of committing violent attacks against women, returning to prison, and getting released again.
In 2007, Flick jailed after punching a woman he was dating and stabbing her with a fork, the New York Times reports. Three years later, he violently assaulted another woman and chased her with a screwdriver before she escaped, according to The Washington Post. Police found Flick trying to hang himself on a fire escape.
He served four years for that crime and a judge ignored prosecutors’ requests for a longer sentence in 2010, stating that Flick was not a threat due to his age. However, the Complex reports that Flick was convicted on Wednesday of stabbing a homeless woman 11 times in front of her 11-year-old twin sons in broad daylight.
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When a judge sentenced Albert Flick to prison for assault in 2010, he said Flick would be too old to pose a threat by the time he was released, despite a history of violence against women.
4 years after release, Flick was charged in another woman’s death. https://t.co/2roXtCPZwK
— CNN (@CNN) July 19, 2019
Kimberly Dobbie’s sons and three men witnessed the attack and attempted to stop him. “It was soul-crushing for them,” juror Caitlain Jasper said. “And they’ll never be able to forget it.”
Police say Flick murdered Dobbie after he became obsessed with her and stalked her.
Eslie Clement, who saw Flick stab her mother to death back in 1979, blames the judge responsible for the lax sentencing of him in 2010. “I would like to just see [everyone involved] in a line and stand there and tell [Dobbie’s] boys, explain to them how this man was on the streets and how it’s OK,” she said. “How the law makes it alright for their mom to now be gone and for them to have to witness it”
via PEOPLE:
The morning of July 15, 2018, Flick trailed Dobbie and her kids from Dunkin Donuts to the laundromat, the Press Herald reports. Dobbie had just put a load of laundry in when she stepped outside to make a phone call. She was sitting on the steps talking on her cell phone while her boys played on the sidewalk, when Flick stabbed her at least 11 times.
The jury deliberated for only 40 minutes before convicting Flick of Dobbie’s murder. He faces 25 years and is expected to spend the remainder of his life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for August 9.
“I firmly believe this could have been prevented,” Elsie Clement, told the Press Herald. “There is no reason this man should have been on the streets.”