BUCKHANNON – A Lewis County man was arrested after allegedly attacking a person with a bat, causing the victim to suffer fractures to his face.
Jonathan M. Woody, 29, of Horner, W.Va., was arrested Tuesday for malicious assault and burglary, both felonies.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Upshur County Sheriff’s Deputy Cole Bender, on the night of Saturday, April 1, Bender responded to a trailer at Meadowland Trailer Park for an alleged assault. He was accompanied by Lt. Marshall Powers, also with the sheriff’s office, and Trooper P.J. Robinette with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police.
Bender saw the victim sitting in the kitchen of the trailer, having difficulty breathing, and law enforcement officers observed blood dripping from his nose. The caller who reported the assault told police he had been informed that “it was Woody who allegedly attacked [the victim] with a bat,” according to the police report.
Bender went to the trailer after the victim was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Bender contacted a resident of the trailer who said the victim had been sleeping on the couch in the living room with her when Woody, who is an ex-boyfriend to the resident, arrived at the home and repeatedly knocked on the door. The resident also stated she was unsure how Woody entered the trailer because the doors had been locked.
She also said she heard the victim say someone was breaking in, and when she looked, they were fighting until the victim was able to exit via the front door, the file states.
Bender met with the victim at the emergency room, where he said had been sleeping when he heard someone banging on the front door and then the back door. When he got up, the victim said he saw Woody approaching him from the hallway, and Woody then allegedly attacked him, according to the report. Both the victim and resident said Woody used a bat.
While speaking with the victim, officers learned the victim had fractures in his face, and the victim later provided Bender with discharge paperwork verifying the injuries.
Bender was unable to locate Woody or the bat.
Upshur County Magistrate Alan Suder set bail at $50,000 cash only, and Woody remained incarcerated in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail as of Friday morning.
The potential penalty for a conviction of malicious assault is confinement in the state penitentiary for not less than two nor more than ten years. In addition, the penalty for a burglary conviction is confinement in a state penitentiary for not less than one year or more than 15 years.
