Teen gets 10 years for ax attack at party

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old man in Vancouver, British Columbia, began serving a 10-year sentence Wednesday for attacking another teenager with an ax at a party.

Provincial Court Judge Ken Ball startled prosecutors by imposing the sentence Tuesday on Enrique Quintana, as it was four years longer than they had requested, the Vancouver Sun reported Wednesday.

In sentencing, Ball said the Oct. 28, 2006, attack on Michael Levy was an act of "brutal savagery." Levy's spinal cord was severed and the 19-year-old is now a quadriplegic, the court heard.

Ball granted Quintana two years credit for time already served in a juvenile detention center, but said he would serve the balance of the sentence in an adult prison, the report said.

Had Quintana been sentenced as a juvenile, the maximum sentence would have been two years, prosecutors said.

Two other teenagers who participated in the "swarming" attack were sentenced in December for smashing a bottle over Levy's head and repeatedly punching him.