Columbia, CA – A Columbia man was convicted of first-degree attempted murder after stabbing a victim in the abdomen with a 14-inch knife, among other charges.
On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, Tuolumne County District Attorney Cassandra Jenecke announced that after a three-day trial in November, 48-year-old Daniel Forgan was sentenced to five years and four months plus seven years to life for the attempted murder charge. The assault happened on May 13, 2024, while riding his electric bike to pick up mail. Forgan shouted obscenities at a woman as he passed by a neighbor’s house on Gunsight Road. Jenecke added that he has a documented history of neighbor disputes, resulting in restraining orders.
When Forgan returned, he stopped and kept ranting, which prompted the victim, Gerald James, to protect the woman by urging him to stop yelling and leave. James testified at the trial that the defendant headbutted him, so he punched Forgan. Then James told jurors he felt something in his stomach area and later realized he had been stabbed but never saw the weapon—a 14-inch-long knife, similar to a Ka-Bar knife, according to Jenecke. As previously reported here, it was initially thought the weapon might have been a sword until the knife was later found hanging on a fence on Forgan’s property.
Additionally, Jenecke shared that Forgan had a phone mounted on his bike that livestreamed until right after the defendant stabbed James, but only captured the audio of the attack.
“James suffered a lacerated liver and was in the hospital for over a month before he was discharged to a rehabilitation center. James continues to suffer from complications due to the injury caused by the defendant today,” Jenecke relayed.
Forgan was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon and being a prohibited person in possession of ammunition after it was found during a search of his home. Multiple residents testified to Forgan’s constant screaming day and night, including just days before the attack, when he yelled he was going to “slice, cut, stab” someone.
