Actor Nick Pasqual will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the brutal home-invasion stabbing of his Hollywood makeup artist ex-girlfriend, a Los Angeles judge ruled on June 2, 2026, handing down a sentence of 32 years to life as the courtroom gallery broke into applause.
Pasqual, 36, who built a 16-year acting career with roles in “How I Met Your Mother” and the Netflix series “Archive 81,” was sentenced at the San Fernando Courthouse for the May 23, 2024, attack on Allie Shehorn, 37, inside her Sunland, California, home. A jury convicted him in May 2026 of attempted murder, forcible rape, first-degree residential burglary with a person present and domestic violence.
Judge Hayden Zackey, who presided over the case, did not soften his words. He called Pasqual “as bad as it gets” and labeled the attack “savage,” noting that the defendant could have faced the death penalty had Shehorn not survived. “I’ve never seen a person more hellbent on terrorizing another person,” the judge said, telling Pasqual that calling him a human being was “an insult to society.”
A 4:30 a.m. Break-In
Prosecutors said Pasqual broke into Shehorn’s home around 4:30 a.m. on May 23, 2024, days after she ended their relationship and filed a restraining order. He stabbed her more than 20 times, leaving deep slashes across her neck and cuts to her arms and abdomen. The injuries were so devastating that Shehorn was clinically dead twice, the judge noted from the bench.
Bleeding out on her own floor, Shehorn wrapped a belt around her own neck and pulled it tight to slow the hemorrhaging. She was discovered hours later by her surrogate mother and rushed into 14 hours of surgery, followed by nearly a week in intensive care. Her friend Christine White, who has spoken publicly about the discovery, told responders, “I just told her to keep her hand on her throat to stop the bleeding.”
The violence did not come without warning. Pasqual had been arrested for domestic violence on May 18, 2024 — just five days before the stabbing — and released on a $50,000 bond. Friends say he went straight after Shehorn once he walked free. “As soon as he paid his bail, he came after her,” her friend Jed Dornoff said. Court records show Shehorn had accused Pasqual of attacking her at least four times before the stabbing, including incidents in which he allegedly used a belt and broke down doors.
Caught at the Border
After the attack, Pasqual fled California and headed for Mexico. He was detained on May 30, 2024, at a border checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, before he could cross.
Shehorn — an award-winning makeup artist whose credits include the 2024 “Mean Girls” musical adaptation, Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon” and the horror film “Obsession” — appeared at trial with the scars from that night plainly visible on her arms and neck. She returned to court on June 2 in a red dress that exposed those scars, telling the judge she now wears them as a badge of honor.
‘I Was Terrified, I Was in Pain’
In a victim impact statement that drew tears from those in the gallery, Shehorn recalled lying in a pool of her own blood and wondering whether she would ever become a mother.
“When I was lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood, I remembered wondering if this was how my life was going to end,” she told the court. “I was terrified, I was in pain.”
She turned and addressed Pasqual directly. “You, who I had once trusted, decided my life was something that you could take away,” she said, before calling him a coward. She also described an earlier violent fight in which Pasqual punched holes through a locked door as she barricaded herself in a bathroom. “To this day, I still have nightmares about the attack,” she said.
Pasqual asked to speak — a request that drew audible gasps. “This weighs heavily on me,” he said. “This is a burden that I will carry the rest of my life.” He told the judge he was thankful Shehorn survived and was focused on “sobriety and remorse.”
Zackey was not moved. He pointed to a recorded April 29 jailhouse phone call in which, the judge said, Pasqual mocked Shehorn for what she endured. Afterward, Shehorn told reporters she “didn’t believe a word” of his apology.
Prosecutors Call It a Warning
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman framed the sentence as both justice and a cautionary tale. “Today’s 32 years to life sentence holds Nick Pasqual accountable for the horrific crimes he committed against someone who once loved and trusted him,” he said in a statement released after the hearing, praising Shehorn’s bravery in testifying.
Hochman warned that her case underscores how domestic violence “thrives when its victims live in fear and stay silent,” and how rarely survivors live to see their abusers convicted.
Through his representatives, Pasqual issued his own statement, saying he remains “deeply saddened” and intends to pursue “a respectful appellate process moving forward.”