Deer Park man convicted of stabbing woman, DA says

A Deer Park parolee was convicted Tuesday of stabbing a woman 14 months ago during a fight at her friend’s home, the Suffolk District Attorney’s office said.

Gregory Barnes, 53, faces 25 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of second-degree assault in the Nov. 7, 2015, in the stabbing of Joyce Thomas in Deer Park, prosecutors said. He was held without bail for his March 2 sentencing.

Barnes will appeal his conviction, said his attorney, Richard Stafford of Bohemia. Stafford said his client was only trying to take the knife away from Thomas, his then-girlfriend, and in the struggle, she got a “superficial” cut to the back of her neck.

During the trial, each side presented a very different version of what happened.

Authorities said Barnes, who has four violent felony convictions, stabbed Thomas, 43, with a large kitchen knife at her friend’s house on Scott Avenue.

They were drinking alcohol and an argument about leaving the premises set off their fight, prosecutors said. The homeowner saw the attack and helped Thomas pry the knife from Barnes’ hand, officials said.

Police arrested Barnes minutes later near the house. Thomas has recovered, officials said, adding that she was not Barnes’ girlfriend at the time.

But Stafford said drug use and dealing at the house were the source of the argument between the couple.

“When they argued, she pulled a knife,” Barnes’ attorney said. “He’s said from the beginning he never stabbed her, he never cut her, he never had the knife, that the knife was in her hands the whole time.”