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KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A man who stabbed and robbed a customer inside a McDonald’s last January learned Monday that he will likely die in prison.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard sentenced Richard Thornton to 100 years in prison.

The robbery happened in January 2023 at the McDonald’s in Elkview.

Investigators say Thornton followed a 56-year-old man into the restroom before demanding he hand over his wallet and then slashed his face and stabbed him in the neck.

That wasn’t Thornton’s first offense.

“Over the years, you’ve threatened family members with hatchets, EMS workers with knives,” Judge Ballard said.

Thornton also was charged with malicious wounding, but that charge was dropped.

For previous coverage >>> McDonald’s customer stabbed in restroom; employee arrested