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OREGON CITY, Or. -- An Oregon City man with a history of assault was sentenced Thursday in Clackamas County Circuit Court to 70 months in prison for stabbing an autistic teenager.
A jury found Nicholas Lloyd Nash, 40, guilty of Assault in the Second Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Harassment earlier this month.
The prosecution requested a 120-month sentence based on Nash’s persistent involvement in criminal activity. The court imposed the minimum sentence of 70 months.
The assault occurred on Aug. 19, 2024 on the Trolley Trail, a six-mile-long pedestrian and bike path connecting Milwaukie and Gladstone.
The victim was riding his bicycle near Southeast Naef Road near his home when Nash threw a rock at him. The victim told Nash stop.
Nash slapped the boy in the face, stabbed him in the left arm with a knife and fled. Several witnesses heard the boy crying, rendered aid and called 911. He was taken by ambulance to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.
Police located Nash at a nearby homeless encampment. He told Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputies that the boy came by him at a high rate of speed, was belligerent, threw rocks at him and punched him in the face. Nash denied stabbing the victim and claimed the boy was injured when he fell off his bike.
“My son said to us after he heard you were going to prison he was glad you were not going to he able to hurt other kids,” the victim’s father said in court.
“As my wife and I think about that day, our incredible sense of panic and concern for his safety were overwhelming as we tried to get to him,” the father said. “As much as the trauma of the event affected us, the aftermath was much worse. Fear, panic, insecurity are just a few of the things we’ve had to endure since that day.”
Nash has a lengthy criminal history that includes four prior convictions for assault and convictions for unlawful use of a weapon, harassment, resisting arrest, possession of methamphetamine, DUII and public indecency. In 2009, Nash was sentenced in Marion County to 70 months in prison for assault.
At the time of the stabbing, Nash was on probation for possession of methamphetamine. Circuit Judge Ulanda Watkins sentenced Nash to an additional 180 days in prison for violating his probation.
“The defendant’s extensive history of violent crimes, when considered in conjunction with his conduct in this case and his utter lack of compliance on supervised probation, demonstrate that he is an active and continuing danger to the community,” said Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Wareham Portlock, who prosecuted the case.
Clackamas County Circuit Court case 24CR42969
