A Yuba City man who brutally stabbed another man with a screwdriver on the front lawn of a Woodland home last year was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

Harjiwan Singh Mann, 36, had two prior strikes on his record that qualified him for sentencing under California’s “three strikes” law, according to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office. His prior offenses included robbery and resisting arrest while using a knife.

Mann’s third strike occurred on the evening of May 3, 2011, when prosecutors say he stabbed a 30-year-old man in the head and neck with a screwdriver outside a home in the 1200 block of Midway Drive. The victim, also of Yuba City, reportedly suffered permanent injuries from the attack.

Woodland police arrested Mann outside Woodland Memorial Hospital. It was unclear why the two men were in Woodland that day.

“This was a horrific crime committed by a man with a history of violence,” Deputy District Attorney Chris Bulkeley said following Thursday’s plea agreement. “Today we got a just result without putting the victim and his family through a trial.”

Mann’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson, said a lifetime struggle with mental illness contributed to Mann’s actions on May 3, as well as his prior crimes. He said Mann had been admitted to a Yuba City mental-health facility the night before the stabbing but was ultimately released.

“It is my hope, as well as the hope of Mr. Mann’s family, that he will finally receive the mental health treatment he needs and will one day be permitted to rejoin his wife and children in the community,” Hutchinson said.

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or (530) 747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene

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