Woman Gets 8 Years in Prison for Knife Attack in P.V. Estates

A 27-year-old woman acquitted in July of stabbing a Palos Verdes Estates woman in the leg was sentenced Thursday to eight years in state prison for a September knife attack on the woman’s father.

Patricia Louise Shelter had appeared before Torrance Superior Court Judge Francis Hourigan to set a trial date for charges stemming from the September attack but instead entered a no-contest plea to a single count of second-degree attempted murder.

Shelter could have been sentenced to up to 10 years for the attack on Jack Ruzicka, 47.

An additional charge of assault with a deadly weapon was dropped as part of the plea agreement, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sandi Buttitta said.

Public Defender Janice Fukai said her client insisted that she did not intend to kill Ruzicka or his wife, Gail, but that “she did intend to scare them.”

“She was angry at them because she had been in jail for this earlier (attack), which she did not do,” Fukai said. “She made an intelligent decision to cut her losses, plead no contest and prevent it from going any further.”

Shelter will be eligible for parole in about four years, both attorneys said.

Although Ruzicka welcomed the plea as “the best news I’ve had in a long time,” he said he doubts that the incident is over for his family.

“I think after four years, she’ll come back,” he said.

Shelter was arrested Sept. 9 at Ruzicka’s home after she tried to stab him when he opened the front door. Ruzicka, who was not injured, slammed the door shut, locked it and ran from the house with his wife, Gail. The couple called police from a neighbor’s house.

When police arrived, they found Shelter inside the house, armed with five knives. Two more were found inside her car, which was parked a short distance away.

In July, a Torrance Superior Court jury had acquitted Shelter of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly stabbing Ruzicka’s 21-year-old daughter, Heather, in the leg outside the family home. Heather Ruzicka testified that she managed to escape and lock herself inside the house and that the attacker was driven away by the family’s dogs.

During the subsequent trial, Shelter’s family testified that she was elsewhere when the stabbing occurred.

Jack Ruzicka said his daughter and Shelter briefly shared a Riverside apartment after they met while working as Girl Scout camp counselors. Heather moved out after Shelter allegedly began making sexual advances toward her, he said.

Times staff writer Tim Waters contributed to this story.