Nebraska man who set fire to and stabbed wife gets probation

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A Grand Island man who set his wife on fire before stabbing and beating her has avoided jail time after being sentenced to probation.

District Judge Andrew Butler sentenced Giannini Cervantes, 39, on Tuesday to 42 months probation for second-degree domestic assault.

Cervantes pleaded no contest to the charge in September. In exchange, a weapons count and two charges of third-degree domestic assault were dropped.

Police arrested Cervantes in May, three weeks after they say he poured alcohol on his wife’s leg and lit it on fire. Police said he then stabbed his wife in the leg. In a subsequent attack, police described a vicious assault Cervantes carried out on his wife that left her with broken ribs and a disfigured face.