Saldana’s Attacker Is Sentenced for Threats

An obsessed fan who stabbed actress Theresa Saldana was sentenced Tuesday to five years and eight months in prison for sending her threatening letters. Sentencing came after Saldana pleaded with him to “take me out of your thoughts.” Arthur Jackson, who has been in prison for eight years for the attempted murder of Saldana, was unmoved and read a rambling “declaration of war” if he is sent back to state prison. He also demanded to be executed.

The actress, who asked to speak under the state Victim’s Bill of Rights law, told how her family had suffered since Jackson first attacked her on a West Hollywood street in 1982. A delivery man pulled the man off of Miss Saldana and wrestled a knife away from him.

She looked at Jackson, who sat across the courtroom reading a newspaper clipping as she spoke. “Arthur Jackson, I ask you to please leave me and my family alone,” she said. “Take me out of your thoughts.”