SANDPOINT - A Post Falls man who pleaded guilty to attempting to kill his estranged wife at her Priest Lake home is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16.

James Leverne "Vern" Carlton faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in 1st District Court. He remains held at the Bonner County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Carlton, 61, is accused of slipping into the woman's home in September 2013 and attacking her with a knife as she sat on a couch reading a book. The woman was stabbed once in the chest and a tendon in her hand was severed in the blitz, court documents indicate.

Carlton, who is deaf, allegedly told sheriff's detectives through an American Sign Language interpreter that God came down and told him not to kill his wife, prompting him to drop her off in Priest River in exchange for a promise that she would not report the attack to authorities.

A motive for the attack is not disclosed in the criminal case against Carlton, although documents filed in the couple's divorce proceedings suggested that Carlton stood to gain the woman's retirement benefits in the event of her death.

Carlton was charged with attempted murder and using a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. At the time of his arrest, Carlton was already being prosecuted for felony domestic violence charge resulting in traumatic injury, which stemmed from an earlier attack on the woman.

In exchange for a plea of guilt to attempted murder, the deadly weapon count was dismissed, according to a plea agreement. The dismissal effectively spared Carlton a consecutive 15-year prison term.

The prior felony domestic violence charge has been reduced to a misdemeanor, court records show.

The state is recommending a 10-year prison term, the first five years of which would be fixed. The defense is free to argue for a lesser sentence.

Carlton was to be sentenced last month, but it was postponed because a presentence investigation indicated he had a "serious" mental health issue. Court records further indicate that Carlton has a traumatic brain injury.