Scorned Lover Gets 11 Years in Knife Attack : Crime: Judge rejects woman’s plea for leniency in attempted murder of Ventura veterinarian.

Rejecting a scorned lover’s emotional plea for leniency, a Superior Court judge Monday sent a Ventura woman to prison for 11 years for nearly stabbing her ex-fiance to death.

A jury convicted Jeanette Smith, 33, of attempted murder for stabbing Jeffrey Saur, a Ventura veterinarian, more than 30 times last September.

Judge Charles W. Campbell said in the Ventura courtroom Monday that he was unimpressed with Smith’s promise that she would never harm Saur again if only imprisoned for eight years, the minimum under law for her crime.

“People get in relationships that succeed and fail,” Campbell said, rejecting Smith’s plea. “That’s a part of life.” Saur, 41, told the judge that he would have been killed in the attack had passing motorists not tackled the woman.

“I am convinced if those other people hadn’t stopped to help me, she would have killed me,” said Saur, who came to court with his mother and brother.

Saur is a slight man and partially disabled, which explains why he did not fend off Smith when she attacked him last year, prosecutors said.

“His right arm is weaker than his left, and he was not able to protect himself,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Maive Fox said. Saur walks with a noticeable limp in his right leg.

Reading a prepared statement, Saur asked that Campbell reject defense requests for a lighter sentence because he wanted to “cause Ms. Smith to feel some of the pain and suffering and loss that I experienced.”

Saur, who was critically injured in the attack, said he spent eight days in the hospital and could not work for three weeks. He said he stills suffers pain from the attack.

Smith, wearing blue polyester jail garb and shackled at the feet, shook her head occasionally when Saur said he believed Smith was still unrepentant. But she sat impassively otherwise.

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After her lawyer asked for a lighter sentence, it was Smith’s turn to read a statement.

“Jeff, nearly a year has passed since we had a chance to communicate,” she said. As she read, Saur sat stoically a few feet behind her in the gallery.

“I am able to say that I have let go of you. I am no longer in love with you,” Smith said, her voice halting only during the final words of her statement. “I am not or will not be a threat to your happiness with someone else.”

During the June trial, Saur testified that the stabbing occurred as he was helping Smith move her belongings from his Ventura home after breaking off their yearlong relationship.

He said he was driving her car along California 126 near the Ventura Freeway when she lunged between him and the steering wheel and kissed him full on the lips, blocking his view.

Saur said he pulled to the side of the road and then Smith stabbed him in the right shoulder with a five-inch knife she had hidden under her seat. Smith continued the attack, stabbing Saur throughout the torso, as the pair spilled out of the car.

She stopped only after two motorists came to Saur’s aide, and amateur wrestler Matthew Halpert put her in a bear hold and then pinned her to the ground.

Saur said he fell in love with Smith about two years ago after treating her cat. But he said the relationship began to deteriorate when Smith began acting paranoid about their relationship.