Dianna Gibson

Utah Judge Dianna Gibson suspended a felony prison sentence for a man who stabbed a 74-year-old stranger in the neck and arm, from behind, with no provocation. Alex Jones attacked the man as he sat alone on a bench at Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park in August 2025; police called the victim's injuries life-threatening, and he was hospitalized in critical condition. Jones fled on foot and was arrested about an hour later, still bearing what officers described as a "blood like substance" on his face and both hands.

Jones pleaded guilty in April 2026 to aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, a second-degree felony carrying a statutory sentence of one to fifteen years; a separate, unrelated case charging him with evading police, criminal trespassing, and drug paraphernalia possession was dismissed as part of the same plea. He made "nonsensical statements about seeing demons" when questioned by detectives and said he did not remember the attack.

Judge Gibson suspended his entire prison sentence — not just reducing it toward the one-year statutory minimum, but eliminating the prison term altogether — ordering him held only until space opens at a mental-health and addiction treatment facility, followed by four years of probation. She reportedly told the courtroom she was imposing "zero tolerance for any violence," even while suspending the prison term for an unprovoked, near-fatal stabbing of a stranger.