Walter Case Jr. receives five-year jail term

RAVENNA, Ohio – A top harness racing driver was sentenced to five years in prison for stabbing his estranged wife in the back with a steak knife.

“I really screwed my life up,” Lewiston native Walter Case Jr. said Monday in court. “I let alcohol take over my life. I wish I could take it back.”

Case is harness racing’s second winningest driver with 11,027 victories.

Case, 43, pleaded guilty in September to felonious assault. Police said he attacked his wife on June 22, punching and kicking her until she ran from the couple’s home. He chased her into the street and stabbed her, police said.

Nadine Case, 26, had moved out of their home two days earlier but returned to give her husband a check to pay for horses she owned, police said. The attack left her with a collapsed lung, and she filed for divorce in August.

Walter Case will be eligible for release after six months, said his attorney, Larry Whitney.

Case surrendered his license to race last year after accumulating 178 days of suspensions, most for violating the rule that calls for a driver to keep both feet in the sulky stirrups. In March, the Ohio State Racing Commission denied his request for reinstatement.

Case set a harness racing record for most wins on a single racing program by piloting 10 winners in 13 drives at Northfield Park in suburban Cleveland in 1999. A year earlier he set the all-time record for victories in a single season with 1,077.