Man pleads guilty to assaulting woman, gets 4 years
A Fayette County man whose aggravated assault conviction was vacated on post-conviction appeal was back in court Wednesday to face retrial, but struck a last-minute plea deal instead.
Mark McCoy, 28, pleaded guilty to aggravated and simple assault before President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. and was sentenced to four to eight years. McCoy has already served the minimum term. Wagner noted that with time served, McCoy is immediately eligible for a hearing before the parole board.
Wagner asked McCoy, represented by court-appointed attorney Jason Taylor, to explain what happened the night of June 21, 2007.
McCoy said he was outside a bar in Brownsville, and he saw the victim, Jamie Morriston, arguing with his cousin. He said he smacked, kicked and punched her several times. Wagner asked why, and McCoy replied that he was drunk and just acted out.
“Back then, I just didn’t care,” McCoy stated.
As a result of the beating, Morriston lost two teeth, and had two large cuts to her head that required nearly two-dozen staples to close. She also testified in the first trial that she had three fractures to her pelvis and her eyes were swollen shut for three days.
As part of the sentence, Wagner ordered McCoy to pay the costs of Morriston’s medical treatment resulting from the beating.
Wagner gave McCoy the opportunity to address the victim before sending him back to the State Correctional Institution at Fayette in Luzerne Township.
McCoy faced Morriston and said, “I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. You ain’t gotta worry about me ever again.”
A jury found McCoy guilty of the same crime in 2008, and he was sentenced to five to 20 years. Taylor said at the post-conviction relief hearing before Senior Judge Ralph C. Warman, McCoy said he learned the district attorney had offered a plea deal that would have netted a one to two year sentence, which McCoy said he would have taken if he had known about it. Warman found that the offer was never relayed to McCoy, Taylor said, and vacated the conviction.