Tyler Riddle was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the Mesa domestic violence stabbing of Erin Hume.

A guilty plea is a conviction on the counts admitted, and the prison term is the sentence. Here the plea covered one count of aggravated assault and two counts of child abuse, each charged as a domestic violence offense, and the court imposed 15 years. AZFamily reports the sentencing hearing itself took place Aug. 31, 2026. The county attorney's office announced the result Tuesday.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, that Tyler Riddle was sentenced to 15 years in prison, AZFamily and FOX 10 Phoenix report. Both outlets report Riddle pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and two counts of child abuse. FOX 10 reports all three are felonies and domestic violence offenses. The plea is a conviction on those counts, and the 15-year term is the sentence. AZFamily reports the sentencing hearing took place Aug. 31, 2026. The outlets differ on Riddle's age: AZFamily reports he is 34, while FOX 10, citing the county attorney's office, reports he is 36.

According to the county attorney's office, as FOX 10 reported it, Riddle and his girlfriend, Erin Hume, had been in a relationship that became abusive over time. In August 2025, a 12-year-old called Mesa police to say his mother was bleeding and that her boyfriend, Riddle, was in the home. Officers found the woman "covered in blood with multiple stab wounds including a laceration across her throat," the office said. FOX 10 reports Hume's two children told police they woke to screaming, saw Riddle punching her, and were struck in the face when they tried to help. FOX 10 reports Hume spent weeks in intensive care, survived, and does not remember the attack.

Hume spoke at the sentencing. "The defendant showed absolutely no mercy to me that night," she said, as AZFamily and FOX 10 reported. "He may have thought that stabbing me 22 times would be the end of my story; instead I am standing here today, alive, speaking for myself, speaking for my children, and refusing to let what he did become the definition of who I am." FOX 10 reports she has since spoken publicly during Domestic Violence Awareness Month and urged others not to ignore red flags.

"Thanks to the bravery of her kids and the quick response by the Mesa Police Officers who arrived at the scene, this victim survived her attack and can find a measure of peace knowing this defendant has been held accountable," Mitchell said, according to both outlets. Mesa Police Chief Dan Butler said, as FOX 10 reported, "Domestic violence is rarely an isolated incident; abusers routinely escalate their behavior from emotional manipulation to near lethal physical violence," and called the result "a just sentence for a dangerous defendant." The plea and the 15-year sentence are the court's outcome on the three counts. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Anyone experiencing domestic abuse can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or by texting START to 88788.