ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A Buncombe County man was sentenced this week to up to 10.7 years in state prison after pleading guilty to a violent domestic assault that nearly killed a former partner in Leicester, prosecutors said.

Phillip Billy Webb pleaded guilty in Buncombe County Superior Court to felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and felony breaking or entering to terrorize or injure an occupant. Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Alan Z. Thornburg on Wednesday sentenced Webb to 96 to 128 months in the N.C. Department of Adult Correction and ordered him to have no contact with the victim.

Deputies responded to a home on Brangus Road the night of Aug. 27, 2025, after a 911 call reported an assault, according to the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office. They found the front door forced open and the victim lying on the living room floor in a pool of blood. Deputies initially believed the victim had died before finding a pulse. The victim was taken to Mission Hospital.

Investigators determined Webb had recently been in a brief relationship with the victim and had confronted the person days earlier during an argument, the District Attorney’s Office said. Webb later returned to the home, kicked in the door and attacked the victim, stabbing them at least once and striking them repeatedly in the head, face and upper body. He fled on foot after the victim’s roommate called 911.

The victim delivered an impact statement in court before sentencing, as allowed under the state’s Victims’ Rights Act.

“Domestic violence cases are among the most difficult and critical crimes our office prosecutes, and we see these cases far too often,” District Attorney Todd Williams said in a statement. “As a community, we must stand together against this violence. The District Attorney’s Office is fully committed to vigorously prosecuting these crimes, protecting victims and sending a clear message that intimate partner violence has no place in Buncombe County.”