A Summerland Key man is off to prison for more than three years for a Lower Keys stabbing, as well as driving offenses

On May 14, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones handed Patrick Nowicki, 57, a 39-month Florida State Prison sentence after Nowicki admitted violating probation on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He also admitted violating probation in a separate case for driving with a revoked license (habitual). Assistant State Attorney Cristy Spottswood represented the state.

The stabbing happened early morning on June 22, 2017, at a residence on Airport Drive North on Summerland Key, which Nowicki and the 58-year-old victim shared. When Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, they found the victim upstairs with a large cut between fingers on his right hand; there was blood on the floor and in surrounding areas. Deputies detained Nowicki on the porch.

A woman in the house, Nowicki’s on-again, off-again girlfriend for years, told deputies Nowicki had punched her in the nose, then went after the victim with a 12-inch knife, stabbing him. Deputies didn’t initially find the knife but the woman did, in Nowicki’s bedroom. The knife had a small amount of blood on it and a bed sheet contained a stain that appeared to be blood wiped from the blade.

Nowicki claimed the victim stabbed himself but changed his story on where it happened. Questioned by deputies while he was in an ambulance awaiting transfer to a hospital, the victim said “isn’t it obvious” Nowicki is the one who did the stabbing. Deputies took Nowicki into custody.

In September 2018, Judge Jones sentenced Nowicki, who pleaded no contest, to 15 months in prison with credit for time served followed by two years of probation. He also received a concurrent 15 months and probation after admitting to violating probation in a 2016 case for driving with a revoked license (habitual) and attaching a tag not assigned to a vehicle.

He violated probation in both cases by being arrested for driving under the influence.

That happened around 5 p.m. January 5, 2020, when a deputy, parked at mile marker 39 just south of the Seven Mile Bridge, saw a northbound pickup truck, later determined to be driven by Nowicki, passing cars in the southbound lane, and coming dangerously close to oncoming traffic. The deputy pulled out, activated his emergency lights and siren, got behind Nowicki and pulled him over in front of the Sunshine Key campground.

The deputy saw Nowicki spill a drink outside his truck window and smelled alcohol on his breath. He was put through roadside sobriety tests, then taken to jail on suspicion of DUI. He took two breath tests and his blood alcohol content measured twice the legal limit for driving; .08 percent is considered legally drunk. 

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