A convicted murderer is facing even more prison time after a Pima County Superior Court jury convicted him of aggravated assault Wednesday for an attack on former eye surgeon Bradley Schwartz.
How much time Jeffrey Allen Wood, 41, will receive depends upon how many prior convictions prosecutor Mark Diebolt will be able to prove at a hearing on Friday. Whatever sentence Wood receives will be consecutive to the prison sentences he is now serving for second-degree murder and two unrelated aggravated assaults.
Schwartz, who is serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2004 slaying of fellow eye surgeon Dr. David Brian Stidham, testified Tuesday he was waiting for his turn at a drinking fountain when Wood attacked him and called him a "Dirty Jew."
Schwartz estimated Wood struck him between 20 and 30 times and kicked him at least twice.
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As a result, Schwartz said the floors and roofs of his eye sockets were fractured, along with the bridge of his nose. He no longer has a sense of smell or taste because nerves were severed and his right optic nerve and the muscles that control the movement of his right eye were also damaged. That eye has sunk in and turned outward and he suffers from double vision, Schwartz said.
Defense attorney Sandra Bensley told jurors Schwartz started the fight and Wood acted only in self-defense.
Judge John Leonardo will sentence Wood June 15.
