Caruthersville man charged in Stoddard County stabbing incident

DEXTER, Mo. -- A Caruthersville, Mo., man was arrested in Dexter following a weekend stabbing incident that injured two.

Matthew A. Kingston, 27, has been charged with two counts of the Class A felony armed criminal action, one count of the Class A felony assault in the first degree with serious injury and one count of the Class B felony assault in the first degree.

According to the complaint, filed by Stoddard County Sheriff's Deputy Travis Stafford, on Saturday a call came in to dispatch calling someone in reference to an assault that occurred at 19004 County Road 702.

When he arrived, Stafford made contact with a 15-year-old victim in the case. The victim stated that he had been in an earlier altercation with a man identified as Matthew A. Kingston.

He said Kingston had been arguing with his step-mother, and when the victim tried to break up the argument, Kingston "assaulted him with a razor blade knife."

The victim received injuries to his chest and left forearm from the knife. He then told the deputy that there was another man involved in the incident and that he was also being treated for injuries.

Stafford then met with the second victim while he was at the hospital as well.

He stated that he saw the first victim fighting with Kingston and went to help. The second victim had injuries to his right leg and right hand from the knife.

Kingston was arrested early Monday morning.

Tuesday morning he was being housed in the Stoddard County Jail awaiting a $75,000 cash-only bond.

The Class A armed criminal action charges Kingston faces carry with them strict sentencing guidelines for first-time offenders.

According to the warrant request, "no person convicted under this section shall be eligible for parole, probation, conditional release, suspended imposition or execution of sentence for a period of three calendar years."

The other Class A felony carries a penalty of not less than 10 years in prison nor more than 30 years or life, while the Class B carries a 5 to 15 year sentence.

Kingston is scheduled to appear before Judge Joe Z. Satterfield for arraignment Thursday morning.