A DeKalb man pleaded guilty this month to stabbing another man in 2024 after an argument about a peanut butter and jelly, part of a deal struck with prosecutors that downgraded an attempted murder charge to aggravated domestic battery, court records show.

Javaughn J. Owens, 24, was initially charged with attempted murder in the Sept. 15, 2024, stabbing at an apartment on South Seventh Street in DeKalb. But he struck a plea deal with prosecutors and the family of the victim, assistant state’s attorney Joseph Hodder said.

Owens pleaded guilty on Sept. 17 to two counts of aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony, DeKalb County court records show.

In exchange, Circuit Court Judge Philip Montgomery sentenced Owens to 7 years and four months in prison. He must serve 85% of his sentence, records show. He’ll get credit for the 367 days he spent awaiting proceedings in DeKalb County Jail.

Owens initially faced up to three decades in prison if he’d been convicted of attempted murder.

The victim in the stabbing, another DeKalb man, suffered serious injuries after Owens stabbed him with a butter knife during a quarrel started over cleaning up after making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, police wrote in court records filed Sept. 16, 2024.

The man suffered a punctured intestine in the stabbing and was treated in DeKalb and later taken to a Chicago hospital for further treatment.

At the time of the stabbing, Owens was on probation after pleading guilty to two previous violent crimes in DeKalb County. He pleaded guilty to a Jan. 20, 2023, aggravated robbery and to a Jan. 16, 2023, burglary during which police said he broke into a drug store and stole prescription medication, court records show.

As part of his plea deal for the stabbing, Owens admitted he violated probation in the 2023 cases, records show. He was sentenced to 7 years on the probation violations, which will be served at 50% at the same time as his stabbing conviction, Hodder said.