A man with a long record of assault and domestic violence is jailed in Cedar Rapids in connection with a knife attack on two people last week. Police Lieutenant Chuck Mincks says 36-year-old James Maclin Junior was named by the woman found stabbed and a man whose throat was slashed on Thursday, March 8. Maclin was arrested Monday.
Mincks says though they identified him by name, it took police several days to find him and interview Maclin "to see what his side of the story was." The two are recovering in a Cedar Rapids hospital. Police got tips that helped find the man in a Cedar Rapids apartment.
Maclin’s been charged with two counts of willful injury and two counts of attempted murder in the March 8 attacks. The state courts database shows a long list of Maclin’s convictions for violent crimes dating back more than twenty years.
The officer says Maclin’s lucky he wasn’t found in possession of drugs or a firearm, because prosecutors might have been able to go for a "three strikes" conviction that could mean life in prison. "He is a convicted felon, and has been involved in quite a checkered history." Probably the most notable incident dates from Maclin’s early record, an assault that made news headlines because of its violence and also its aftermath.
Back in the early 1990’s he says Maclin was charged with shooting his girlfriend in the head. The woman survived, and married Maclin as he was beginning his term in prison. Records show he assaulted her again shortly after finishing the prison term, and the marriage didn’t last. Records also show Maclin had been charged at least twice before with assaulting the woman he allegedly stabbed this month. Maclin’s been convicted in the past of stalking and domestic assault, in addition to a long list of other offenses.