A Vandalia man will spend the next several years in prison for bringing a knife to a fistfight at a Dowagiac bar last spring.

Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman sentenced 29-year-old Donte Dera Lofton to a minimum of three years to a maximum of 20 years in prison Friday morning in court, for a single charge of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder. Lofton pleaded guilty to the charge during an appearance in court Jan. 20.

Lofton was arrested after getting into a fight with another man at Beeson Street Bar in Dowagiac just before midnight on April 23. During the altercation, Lofton produced a boxcutter he had on him at the time and slashed the victim twice, cutting through his clothing and causing lacerations near his heart and other vital organs, according to photos shown to the court by Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz.

Lofton admitted to authorities that he was intoxicated from alcohol and cocaine at the time of the fight, Herman said.

While the victim’s injuries were not life threatening — he was released from Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital shortly after being taken there for treatment — the man believed Lofton had intentionally targeted the area around his heart in an attempt to kill him, he told the court Friday.

“This is a man who has a lust for trouble,” Fitz said, pointing out Lofton’s extensive prior criminal record, which included charges of carrying a concealed weapon, trespassing, assault and battery, and delivery of marijuana. “On this occasion, he also had a lust for violence. As the victim pointed out, someone could have been killed.”

Given his past record and the fact he chose to use a weapon on another person instead of walking away from the fight, Fitz asked the judge to impose a lengthy prison sentence on Lofton.

“This is a man who isn’t learning [his lesson],” the prosecutor said. “He needs to go to prison, and needs to go to prison for a long time, to protect the law abiding citizens of this community.”

Lofton’s attorney, Robert Drake, said that Fitz’s characterization of his client as a violent person was unwarranted, as only one of Lofton’s previous convictions involved violence. Drake also pointed out that the victim was not severely injured in the fight, and that several others are alleged to have participated in the altercation.

Lofton also spoke in his own defense Friday, saying that he and his brother-in-law, who accompanied him to the bar that night, were not looking for trouble and only wanted to have a good time.

“I’m not a violent person,” he said. “I was just trying to protect myself, like anybody else would in that situation. I apologize to the [victim]. I wish things would not have gone down like that, and that we could have resolved things in a different way.”

Herman responded to the defendant by telling him that if he wanted things to go differently that evening, he should not have brought a knife with him to the bar in the first place.

“With the weapon you had, the injuries you gave the victim could have been much worse,” Herman said. “If you wanted to kill somebody, you could have easily done so.”

Lofton was given credit for 322 days already served behind bars.

Also sentenced Friday:

• Adam Joseph Vargo, 32, of Dowagiac, to 18 months of probation for possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

• Anthony Wayne Reid, 43, of Niles, to three years of probation for possession of methamphetamine.

• Latasha Nicole Moss, 30, of Sturgis, to two years of probation for larceny in a building.

• Austin Michael Minardo, 19, of Elkhart, to a minimum of three years to a maximum of 10 years in prison for assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder.