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Man slashes auctioneer’s throat with knife, charged with attempted murder

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A 22-year-old Coos Bay man has been jailed on charges of using a boxcutter to slit the throat of an auctioneer in Woodburn.

Jeremiah D. Thomasson made a brief court appearance Wednesday on the charges of attempted murder and assault. He was assigned a lawyer and held without bail. He is to return to court next week.

Marion County sheriff’s Lt. Sheila Lorance says Thomasson invoked his Miranda right to silence, so investigators haven’t asked him about his motive.

Auctioneer Chuck Boyce had been auctioning items outside a shop when the attack occurred. Deputies told KGW-TV that the perpetrator fled the scene, jumping a fence into a nearby mobile home park.

Boyce was reported in good condition at a Portland hospital after the attack, which took place on June 30. He told station KPTV there was, in his mind, “no reason, nothing justifiable, to do something like this.”

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Information from: KPTV-TV, http://www.kptv.com/

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AP-WS-07-01-09 0312EDT