By PAMELA GOULD
The last of nine defendants in what was originally charged as a mob beating of two Spotsylvania County teens accepted a plea deal yesterday.
Kyle Antwan Brown, who turns 19 next month, entered an Alford plea to one count of unlawful wounding as part of the plea.
Defense attorney Sean Contreras said Brown was entering an Alford plea--which acknowledges that the prosecution has sufficient facts to establish guilt--because he felt it was in his best interest. But Contreras said he planned to call at least one witness at Brown's sentencing hearing to address the facts.
Brown faces sentencing in Spotsylvania Circuit Court on Oct. 22 and could receive up to five years in prison.
Brown, like his eight co-defendants, was originally charged with two counts of malicious wounding by mob and faced up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count.
The teen victims were attacked on a Sunday afternoon in January after they showed up in a Spotsylvania neighborhood for a pickup football game. At an earlier hearing, there were accusations that one of the victims had picked on the younger brother of a defendant.
Both victims were hospitalized as a result of the attack. One suffered a broken jaw; the other suffered a head injury doctors initially thought was a brain injury.
The incident attracted the attention of the Spotsylvania School Board after it was learned some of the teens charged were Courtland High School athletes and some of them had helped their team win the Battlefield District track and field title after being charged.
Brown, who has graduated, attended Spotsylvania High School.
The beating led the School Board to change its Code of Conduct and create a policy that spelled out qualifications for participating in extracurricular activities.
A bystander made a video recording of the incident on his cell phone.
In the recording, the first victim is seen talking to one defendant when a second suspect comes up on the victim's blind side and delivers a knockout punch to his jaw.
The second victim is attacked as he tries to come to his friend's aid. He gets knocked to the ground, punched and kicked by the crowd.
Brown is accused of stomping on the head of the first victim while he was unconscious and stomping "multiple" times on the head of the second victim, according to the plea agreement.
Each teen was offered an identical plea deal in which he could plead guilty to one count of the lesser charge of unlawful wounding and have the second charge dropped.
The first eight defendants accepted plea deals between June 9 and Aug. 13. Five of them have been sentenced already. Four of them were Courtland High athletes.
On Aug. 13, four were ordered to serve terms of six months to 11/2 years for unlawful wounding; the fifth had his conviction reduced to misdemeanor assault and battery and was ordered to serve one month in jail. He was released from the Rappahannock Regional Jail on Aug. 24.
The remaining teens are to be sentenced on Sept. 24 and Oct. 22.
Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com
Below is the status of each of the nine defendants charged in the January beating of two Spotsylvania County teens. Brock L. Bullock, 18, convicted of assault and battery; sentenced to serve one month of a one-year sentence. Kyle A. Brown, 18, entered plea to unlawful wounding yesterday; sentencing scheduled for Oct. 22. Tyrik J. Denson, 18, convicted of unlawful wounding; sentenced to serve six months of a three-year sentence. De'onte C. Jones, 18, convicted of unlawful wounding; sentenced to serve one year of a five-year sentence. Jonathan R. Longtin, 19, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding; awaits sentencing Sept. 24. John "Jay" H. Madison, 18, convicted of unlawful wounding; sentenced to serve 1 years of a five-year sentence. James E. Massey Jr., 18, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding; awaits sentencing Oct. 22. Tajh H. Pendleton, 18, convicted of unlawful wounding; sentenced to serve six months of a three-year sentence. Matthew W. Shepherd, 19, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding; awaits sentencing Sept. 24.
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