Phillip Lovely admitted setting a vehicle ablaze before stabbing Butler County Deputy Mike Farthing.

HAMILTON, Ohio — A Butler County man was sentenced June 3 to eight to 12 years in prison after admitting he stabbed a sheriff’s deputy who had responded to a burning vehicle in Madison Township, officials said.

Phillip Lovely, 42, pleaded guilty in April to attempted aggravated murder and arson, resolving a case that began with a car fire and became a close-range attack on Deputy Mike Farthing. Prosecutors said Lovely started the fire because he was angry over a breakup, then confronted the first deputy who arrived. The sentence made the attack a prison case, but it also left Lovely facing violent offender and arson offender registration duties after release.

The first public sign of trouble came shortly before 1 p.m. Feb. 5, when a vehicle was reported burning near a home in the 7000 block of Myers Road. Farthing reached the scene before other deputies and found the vehicle fully engulfed in flames. He began calling for fire crews and helping with traffic around the rural roadway. Sheriff Richard Jones later said Farthing had no known dispute with Lovely and no warning that the fire call would turn into an assault. The deputy was handling the visible danger in front of him when investigators said a second danger came from behind, turning a property fire into a violent encounter. The scene also forced investigators to treat the fire and the stabbing as one chain of conduct rather than separate emergencies.

Authorities said Lovely, who lived near the property, approached Farthing from behind while the deputy was focused on the fire. Jones said Lovely carried a kitchen-style or butcher knife with an eight-to-10-inch blade and told the deputy, “This is your unlucky day,” as he drove the knife into Farthing’s back. The blade went through the deputy’s protective vest and into muscle tissue. Farthing was wounded, but officials said he stayed on his feet long enough to fight back and radio dispatch that he had been stabbed. That radio call alerted other responders that the fire scene had become an officer-injured emergency. Jones said the speed of the attack left Farthing with only seconds to respond while the fire still burned nearby.

The struggle moved from the road to the ground as Farthing tried to stop Lovely from using the knife again. Officials said the deputy forced Lovely into a ditch, drew his gun and held him there while waiting for help. Lovely still had the knife during part of the encounter. His uncle arrived during the confrontation and helped talk him into dropping the weapon before other deputies reached the scene and took him into custody. Farthing was then taken to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown. Officials did not report that any shots were fired, a fact later cited by prosecutors and the judge when they described Farthing’s restraint under immediate threat. The arrival of the uncle also gave deputies another witness to the final moments before Lovely surrendered the knife.

Farthing was released from the hospital the next day and later returned to active duty. In an interview after the attack, he said he knew that once he saw the knife, he had to control Lovely or risk being killed. He said the wound missed an artery and credited training, equipment and timing with helping him survive. Jones used the case to stress that a ballistic vest can help against gunfire but may not stop sharp objects, including knives, ice picks or similar weapons. The sheriff said the attack showed the hazards deputies face even on calls that do not begin as violent crime reports. Farthing’s return to duty became part of the sheriff’s public account, showing that the wound did not end his law enforcement work.

The burned vehicle became the other half of the prosecution. Court records and official accounts said the vehicle was owned by Lovely’s girlfriend or former girlfriend, and that he set it on fire out of anger tied to the relationship. That act brought Farthing to Myers Road and placed him alone with the suspect before backup arrived. Prosecutor Mike Gmoser later said Lovely was trying to draw law enforcement into a fatal encounter and wanted police to shoot him. The claim became central at sentencing because it framed Farthing not only as the victim of a stabbing, but also as the intended instrument of Lovely’s death. Prosecutors said that theory explained why Lovely attacked a deputy who had arrived to handle the consequences of the fire, not to arrest him for an assault.

Lovely was first charged after the attack with felonious assault, arson and attempted aggravated murder. A grand jury later indicted him on attempted aggravated murder, two counts of felonious assault, arson and two counts of inducing panic. At an early court appearance, bond was set at $125,000 cash. The case changed April 22, when Lovely pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder and arson. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining counts under the plea, leaving the judge to decide the prison term at sentencing. The plea avoided trial testimony from Farthing, witnesses and investigators about the precise sequence of the roadside fight. The dismissed charges did not erase the conduct described in court filings, but they narrowed the convictions to the two counts Lovely admitted.

At the sentencing hearing, Lovely apologized and said he believed medication affected his state of mind on the day of the attack. He said he was sorry for what he had done and thanked Farthing for not killing him. Farthing attended the hearing but did not speak. Detectives, deputies and sheriff’s officials sat nearby in a show of support. The courtroom account placed the focus on both Lovely’s admission and Farthing’s restraint during a confrontation that could have ended with gunfire. Lovely’s explanation did not change the guilty pleas, but it gave the judge a direct statement from the defendant before sentence was imposed. The apology was brief, and Farthing’s silence meant the court heard the deputy’s position mainly through the record and the prosecutor’s remarks.

Judge J. Gregory Howard imposed an indefinite sentence of eight to 12 years and credited Lovely with 119 days already served. Howard said Farthing’s composure helped prevent a worse outcome, while also telling Lovely that harming another person and another person’s property could not be excused by his condition. The arson sentence was ordered to run at the same time as the attempted aggravated murder sentence. Lovely must also serve mandatory post-release control when he leaves prison. The sentence created a minimum prison term and a possible longer period of custody under Ohio’s indefinite sentencing structure. That structure allows a stated minimum while leaving room for additional time if prison officials and state procedures require it after the minimum term has been served.

The case drew attention across southwest Ohio because it combined a domestic dispute, an arson call and an attack on a lone first responder. Madison Township is a partly rural area north of Cincinnati, where deputies can arrive before fire crews or backup officers on daytime calls. Officials described Farthing as the first law enforcement officer at the fire scene, which meant he had to shift from traffic control to self-defense within seconds and make decisions under direct threat. The account also became a public example of how scenes that appear to involve property damage can place responders in immediate physical danger. For the sheriff’s office, the case became a reminder that the first responding deputy may face the full risk before any larger response is in place.

With sentencing complete, Lovely is set to enter the state prison system under the eight-to-12-year term. After release, he must register as a violent offender for 10 years and as an arson offender for life, while Farthing has returned to duty after surviving the roadside attack.

Author note: Last updated July 8, 2026.