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Mason Fike chose not to attend Friday’s sentencing of the man who repeatedly stabbed him on their White Bear Lake street just over a year ago. Fike, now 22 and a senior at St. John’s University in Collegeville, said in his victim impact statement — read in a Ramsey County courtroom by his brother — that his decision was not because he was afraid of his attacker, Jeffrey Thomas Rice. “I am simply done wasting my life and time being in the same room with someone as worthless as you,” the statement read. “I have never been afraid of you, and I never will be.” Rice, 20, stabbed Fike in the chest, kidney, bladder, spleen, back and stomach after he stormed outside and confronted Fike, who was on a walk with his girlfriend in the early morning hours of July 27, 2024. “That night, I know what you wanted and attempted to do, and so do you, Jeffrey. You wanted to kill me,” Fike said in his statement. “And I do not need a trial to know that.” Rice already knew his own fate before the hearing: a 7½-year prison sentence, which was set by an agreement he reached with the prosecution in August for pleading guilty to first-degree assault. An attempted murder charge was dismissed as part of the plea deal. Fike’s mom, Gail Fike, told the court that Rice was “given what I consider a gift … only having to serve 90 months in prison for the pain, fear and lasting trauma that you have caused. That feels like a minimal consequence.” Rice and Fike didn’t know each other, despite living on the same block, said Fike’s father, Jeff Fike. He said a jail mugshot of Rice included in a newspaper report on the stabbing showed them what he looked like: “The face of the person who almost took my son’s life.” ‘Selfish, violent actions’ Fike was home on summer break from college. He and his girlfriend wanted to have a date night, so they decided to go for a walk to look at the stars, his mother said. “The kind of evening when families should be able to take a walk and enjoy their neighborhood without fear,” she said. Fike’s girlfriend would later tell police that he yelled at kids riding bikes, telling them it was past their bedtimes, the charges said. It was just before 2 a.m. She said a man, who police later identified as Rice, then came outside from a house and began yelling at them. Fike walked back toward the street in front of the house and met Rice at the street. She said Rice threw the first punch at Fike before stabbing him. When officers arrived in the 2100 block of Southwood Drive, Fike was on his back in grass near a curb. His girlfriend was applying pressure to a large wound to his lower abdomen. He was rushed to Regions Hospital, where he was “lying on that operating table, fighting for his life because of your selfish, violent actions,” Jeff Fike said in court Friday. Rice’s sister told police she heard yelling and screaming from outside and that her brother “stormed outside” and confronted people about the noise, the charges said. She said her brother and Fike argued and then fought and that her brother stabbed him with a pocketknife. She said she told her brother to “stop, stop” and that Fike was lying on the ground bleeding. Rice drove off but was stopped by police in White Bear Lake. He had blood on his skin and clothing, but no injuries. Police later found a pocketknife in a yard near the scene of the stabbing. After being booked into jail, Rice was recorded asking someone during a call, “Is that dude all right?” The person on the other end said, “I don’t think so.” New charges Rice soon posted bond and was released from custody. That same day, Jeff Fike went home to gather extra clothing for the family’s stay at the hospital, where his son was still in the intensive care unit and on a ventilator. As he drove by Rice’s house, he saw him sitting on a lawn chair in his front yard. “I couldn’t believe you had the audacity to sit in the front yard after what you did,” he told the court. Fike said he slowed down and looked at Rice, who looked back and “started laughing. You thought it was funny. You actually laughed. You found humor in what you did, showing no remorse.” Rice would go on to pick up three new criminal cases. He was charged with receiving stolen property in August 2024 after a White Bear Lake officer tracked a surveillance camera that was stolen from a movie theater in Elk River. He was charged with contempt of court in December after police said a Ring doorbell camera showed him drive past the Fike family home, despite a no-contact order that prohibited him from doing so. The case was dismissed last month, according to court records, which do not make clear why that decision was made. He was charged with felony threats of violence. The criminal complaint said in February an intoxicated Rice told his parents and sister that he was going to “go outside and hurt people” after they wouldn’t give him his keys to drive. He also threatened to kill his neighbor and his parents by “cutting their jugulars while they slept,” the complaint said. Rice was arrested that night after police saw him walking with a bottle of whiskey. He remained in jail ever since after not posting bond. Rice pleaded guilty to the receiving stolen property charge on Aug. 21 and was sentenced to three months in jail, which he had already served. The threats charge was dismissed Friday as part of his plea deal in the stabbing case. ‘Mason was a fighter’ Rice, when given the chance to address the court, apologized for stabbing Fike, adding: “I hope there’s change for me. I wish the best for Mason. I don’t know why I did what I did.” Judge Andrew Gordon addressed him before handing down the sentence. “I think it is clear, especially clear in this case, that whatever thought or intent went into the interaction that happened on that day, that it was, frankly, senseless,” he said. “It didn’t need to happen.” Gordon acknowledged how Fike’s family and friends spoke in court about the surgeons and other medical staff who saved his life. “If you didn’t know Mason was a fighter before, you certainly know that now,” the judge said. “And I am sincerely heartened to hear that he is recovering.”
