Wilson Deputy Out of Hospital After Being Stabbed

A Wilson County deputy who was stabbed while on duty is out of the hospital and recovering at home, officials said Monday.

Authorities said James Edward Smith, 42, came out of surgery Saturday evening and left Wilson Medical Center on Sunday.

Investigators said Smith was responding to a domestic violence call Saturday at a house at 5200 White Oak Loop Road. When he entered the house, he was stabbed in the left side of his rib cage by 35-year-old Jimmy Allen Pennell, authorities said.

Smith's stab wound was 8 inches long and 1½ inches deep, authorities said.

The deputy has been with the Wilson County Sheriff's Office for 12 years, Maj. J.H. Farmer said.

Deputies arrested Pennell and charged him with first-degree attempted murder, malicious assault in secret, assault with a deadly weapon on a government official with the intent to kill, resisting a public officer and assault on a female in connection with the original domestic violence complaint to which Smith responded.

Pennell was being held Monday on a $3 million bond.