SAN FERNANDO – A 21-year-old Stevenson Ranch man convicted of the 2007 stabbing death of another man was sentenced today to state prison. Deputy District Attorney Mary Sedgwick said Michael Dean Stephens was sentenced to 17 years to life for the murder of 20-year-old Joshua Pipho of Canyon Country.Stephens was convicted on Nov. 9, 2010, of one count of second-degree murder with a knife-use allegation and an allegation that the defendant used a vehicle as a weapon. Jurors deadlocked on an attempted murder count involving a second victim. Today, Stephens pleaded no contest to attempted murder and admitted the use of a knife as to the second victim, who was stabbed more than a dozen times but survived the attack. San Fernando Superior Court Judge Daniel Feldstern sentenced Stephens to an additional six years in prison. Stephens was additionally ordered to pay restitution to the Victim Compensation Board in the amount of $7,500 and to the victims in an unspecified amount, the prosecutor said. During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Mary Sedgwick presented evidence that Pipho was stabbed, and then run over by a car driven by the defendant. The stabbings occurred during an altercation at a Stevenson Ranch condominium complex.
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