Catching up on news from last week, from KSTP,
Man charged with fatal stabbing at bar in Windom sentenced to 15 years in prison.
You may recall the tragic story of Happy Nonamegiven (or the other way around, either way, we’ll stick with the mononym “Happy”), the “California” trucker who murdered a bar patron on New Year’s Eve in Windom Minnesota.
Back in June, Happy was convicted of 2nd-degree murder after a six-day jury trial in the case. Last week, he received a 15-year state prison sentence from the presiding judge. The case was prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s office.
Happy, age 26, was billed out of San Diego, CA. He testified in his own defense, filling in some of his backstory,
Happy told the court that he was originally from the Punjab province of India and moved to the U.S. just over six years ago. After initially going to school, Happy became a truck driver. He also stated that he sent money back to his family in India to repay loans used for him to apply for his visa.
The unfortunate series of events occurred at Windom’s Phat Pheasant Pub. KSTP provides an account,
[O]n Dec. 31, an employee at the Phat Pheasant Pub told officials that Happy was playing pool with a group of people when he reportedly started causing problems. Happy was escorted out of the bar after he was told to leave by one of the bartenders.
Witnesses said they saw Happy walk towards his semi-truck and then walk back into the bar with a knife. Court records say that a man, later identified as Ben Matter, went to stop him, and Happy “made a couple of stab motions” before he was punched by another person in the bar.
When officers arrived at the bar, they found Matter on the ground with stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.
Happy was carrying a California commercial driver’s license and his semi-truck was also registered in California.
