Man sentenced for stabbing woman in 2022 and injuring her father

A video from May shows a clip of a news report about Bates' plea deal.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A man will spend the next decades in prison after being convicted Friday on criminal charges stemming from a fatal 2022 stabbing.

A judge sentenced Floyd Bates Jr., 60, to 30 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and battery with a deadly weapon.

He was initially charged with murder after Margaret Surry, 34, was found with a cut throat in the 7900 block of Decatur Road on October 14, 2022. The Allen County coroner determined that she died from stab wounds to the neck and torso.

Bates was also accused of stabbing Surry's father, leaving him with non-life-threatening injuries.

In May, Bates signed an agreement pleading guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony, and battery with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony. The guilty plea led to the dismissal of the murder charge.

Court records on the manslaughter charge show the defendant acted under “sudden heat” without premeditation.

While Bates was sentenced to three years for assault and battery and 30 years for voluntary manslaughter, both charges will run concurrently. He also received more than a year in prison for time already served as the homicide case wound its way through the court system.