A welcome sign outside Fort Cavazos, Texas. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
AUSTIN, Texas — A soldier who evaded arrest after stabbing a fellow soldier in her barracks room at Fort Cavazos more than two decades ago was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison after advances in DNA allowed investigators to break the case.
Sgt. 1st Class Allen Houston James, a 46-year-old medical specialist, was convicted Feb. 23, 2024, of attempted murder by a federal jury in Del Rio, Texas, during a four-day trial before Chief Judge Alia Moses. The judge sentenced him Thursday after failed attempts by James to get an acquittal or new trial.
In the nearly 20 years between the June 2000 attack and James’ 2021 arrest at Fort Belvoir, Va., he continued to serve in the Army, according to his official service record.
James has been in federal custody since July 14, 2021, and will be imprisoned in a federal facility as close as possible to Suffolk, Va., where he is from, according to court documents.
He is still assigned to the Virgina base, according to the Army. Officials at Fort Belvoir did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether his unit has begun to remove him from the service or whether he will face any disciplinary action from the Army.
Prosecutors argued in court that James entered a woman’s barracks room while she was sleeping and attempted to rape her at knifepoint, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. The woman fought back and was stabbed repeatedly.
After James fled the room, she ran for help and was taken to the hospital, according to the attorney’s office. The knife cut the soldier within millimeters of her jugular vein and penetrated her from her front to her back, nearly reaching her spine.
She now lives with permanent nerve damage, according to the attorney’s office.
The DNA evidence collected at the time did not initially lead investigators to a suspect until a new analysis in 2019 from the Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory linked the DNA to James.
James first enlisted in the Army in August 1996 and has also served in the Army Reserve and the Pennsylvania National Guard, according to this service record. He deployed to Iraq in 2008 and received more than 20 awards.
