Baseball bat assault draws prison term [The Joplin Globe, Mo.]

July 20--JOPLIN, Mo. -- A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to hitting another man in the head with a baseball bat and fracturing his skull, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Judge David Dally assessed Cody J. Brinegar the prison term on a conviction for first-degree assault at a plea and sentencing hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin.

Brinegar, of rural Carl Junction, changed his plea to guilty in an agreement with the Jasper County prosecutor's office, which limited the prison time he might be required to serve to no more than seven years. He was facing a sentencing range of five to 15 years for the crime.

Brinegar waived his right to a sentencing-assessment report as part of the plea bargain, clearing the way for the judge to pronounce sentence.

Brinegar struck Robby Brown with the bat Nov. 13 of last year in the yard of Brinegar's home at 7626 County Road 290, according to court records.

Brinegar told a Jasper County sheriff's deputy that he'd heard something hit the side of his family's house and went outside to check it out. He found a rock that appeared to have been thrown at the house and saw Brown walking down the roadway about 50 yards away, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

Brinegar yelled at Brown, and Brown turned around and walked back toward the house. Brinegar told the deputy that Brown was stumbling "all over the place" and started taking wild swings at him and his mother, although he admitted that Brown had not managed to hit either one of them.

The affidavit states that Brinegar then retrieved a baseball bat from his house and hit Brown in the head with it. Brown was able to get up and make it home a few houses away before collapsing on a back deck, where the victim's father discovered him bleeding from his mouth and nose, and called for an ambulance.

Brown spent considerable time unconscious in an intensive-care unit at St. John's Regional Medical Center with a large skull fracture and swelling of the brain, according to the affidavit. The document further states that a hole had to be drilled in his head to relieve the swelling, that he had to be placed on a ventilator and that he lost use of the right side of his body for some period of time.

Theresa Kenney, assistant prosecutor, told the court at the hearing Monday that the victim spent several weeks in a rehabilitation center following his release from the hospital.

Dismissed count

As part of Cody Brinegar's plea agreement in his assault case, an unrelated felony drug charge was dismissed by the court.

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