The fate of Dr. Samuel Caruthers, a 47-year-old anesthesiologist who stands accused of punching a 12-year-old and stabbing him with a ski pole at Mountain Creek Resort in 2016, is in the hands of a New Jersey jury.

At 10:30 this morning the jury began deliberations in a trial that has been on going since March 19.

The victim, Jacob Azemoun, was allegedly punched six times and stabbed by a ski pole by Dr. Caruthers in an altercation on Feb. 14, 2016, on the slopes of Mountain Creek, NJ.

The incident occurred after Caruthers son Robbie, 10, was struck by Jacob during a run down a beginners’ slope at a high rate of speed.

Caruthers claims he skied up to his “limp and lifeless” son after the hit because he watched Jacob snowboard back toward his son.

“I tried to stop the snowboarder from hitting my son a second time, so I grabbed at his jacket,” Caruthers said.

Jacob testified that he was a beginner snowboarder who lost control on the ice and accidentally struck the 10-year-old. He went back toward the boy to see if he was OK.

Caruthers said on the stand, he punched the boy, but that he “didn’t know” he was a child at the time.

Caruthers could face up to 20 years in state prison on two counts of third-degree aggravated assault, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

Caruthers had declined a plea deal that would have sent him to the county jail for 180 days.

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