Stabbing suspect says he”s sorry, felt threatened

A Spokane man charged with attempted first-degree murder said Monday that he felt threatened when he stabbed another man who is now hospitalized.

“I am sorry for what I did. I’m mostly sorry for the kid that was stabbed,” said Jason D. Flett, 18. “It was self-defense, but I’m just sorry about it.”

The 21-year-old victim, Sean W. Wright, was listed in satisfactory condition at Deaconess Medical Center. He was stabbed late Friday in his neck, chest and right arm.

Wright told police that three men confronted him and others who were walking from a party. Flett began a fight with a man in the group, and Wright was stabbed after pushing the man out of the way, according to Wright’s account, as stated in court documents.

In a jailhouse interview on Monday, Flett said he and a friend saw a group outside his home, and recognized them as the same people who had offended his friend earlier in the evening. The two went outside and a man Flett knew from when they were students at Rogers High School challenged him to a fight, Flett said.

“I said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ “

Flett said the former Rogers student threw the first punch. Eventually, Flett said, he regained his feet, but by then four or five people were beating his friend. Flett said he then displayed a knife, and everyone fled but Wright.

“He was just standing there,” Flett said. “I don’t think he knew what to do when everybody bailed on him.”

Flett said he had drunk a pint of Jack Daniels and two 40-ounce bottles of beer, and smoked marijuana, that evening.

“This is what drugs and alcohol do to you,” said Flett, adding that he recently finished serving two years in a juvenile detention center for charges that included second-degree assault.