AUGUSTA — An Augusta man, who brutally assaulted a woman, pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years in prison but with all but four months of that suspended.
Jarody Kennebec Journal file photo
The sentence of Jarody, 35, an Augusta man who uses only one name, is expected to result in him serving four months behind bars, which is not as long of a term as the victim in the case, Melissa Gray, testified that he should get.
However the state prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Tyler LeClair, said the sentence was the result of a plea agreement reached following extensive negotiations. He said the state sought a felony conviction, not a misdemeanor conviction, because felons cannot possess firearms in Maine.
“Given the conduct in this case, the state was very concerned about the prospect of this defendant having firearms,” LeClair told Judge Eric Walker at the Capital Judicial Center on Thursday.
LeClair noted the crime is Jarody’s first criminal conviction. He said Jarody did face a charge in 2011, but the district attorney’s office declined to press charges.
The assault took place after an argument between Gray and Jarody, who was acting as her landlord by renting the upper floor of a Washington Street Place home he owns to her and her boyfriend.
LeClair said Augusta police, if the case went to trial, would testify they responded to a report of an assault and found Gray with a broken nose bleeding from her face June 14, 2019. He said a witness told police he saw Jarody punch Gray until she fell to the ground and, when she was on the ground, use a railing to brace himself while he kicked her in the face. LeClair said she had to have surgery and continues to suffer the effects of the attack, including headaches and chronic back pain, to this day.
Gray testified she’s never been attacked in such a brutal manner before and she still has nightmares about it. She said four bystanders did nothing to help her and after she lost consciousness she woke up to Jarody kicking her.
“I could have died as a result of this beating,” Gray said. “I’ll never get over this. I will always have to seek counseling for the increased PTSD symptoms I’m experiencing. This is not something that is going to go away for a long time.”
She said Jarody should serve at least nine months in prison.
Walker told Gray he heard what she said and he understood she had been through a lot.
Gray responded that she did feel like she’d been heard.
Later, on the same day as the assault, Gray’s boyfriend Glenn Morin learned what Jarody had done to her and got in his pickup truck and went looking for him. He spotted Jarody in a car and rammed into the car with his truck, then tried ramming him again but was unsuccessful because his truck stopped working due to the previous collision.
Morin, 55, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of driving to endanger and assault, and was sentenced to 10 days in jail, fined $875 and had his license suspended for 30 days for that incident.
Jarody said he was hospitalized due to Morin ramming his vehicle and suffers long-term effects, including post concussion syndrome and reduced functioning. He said Morin was trying to kill him.
Gray said Morin had no criminal record and had stayed out of trouble his whole life, but he couldn’t handle it when he saw in the emergency room what Jarody had done to her.
Jarody ran unsuccessfully in 2016 for Augusta City Council and in the 2010 Republican primary to represent Augusta in the state House of Representatives, was a participant in Occupy Augusta’s stay at Capitol Park in 2011, and has also attended and displayed signs or flags at other protest events.
He was ordered by Walker to pay $500 restitution to Gray, who told the court she was unable to work immediately following her surgery and was unable to start a job at a farm she had planned to take before the assault.
A misdemeanor charge of assault against Jarody was dismissed as part of the agreement, which resulted in his guilty plea to the aggravated assault charge.
Jarody will be on probation for two years, with conditions including he have no contact with Gray, that he complete a psychological evaluation and counseling if it is deemed necessary, not possess weapons and submit to random searches by authorities.
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