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Woman attacked, beaten in courtroom: Video camera records assault following custody hearing
SPENCER, Nov 04, 2009 (Herald-Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
What started out as a child custody hearing in the Owen Circuit courtroom turned violent when the mother was punched, stomped and kicked and the father was hauled off to jail.
Mark Winders, 31, is being held at the Owen County Jail in lieu of $145,000 bond. He is charged with domestic battery, a misdemeanor, and also with possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Jail officers reported finding a small amount of marijuana and a hydocodone tablet in his possession when Winders was booked into jail Thursday after the courtroom attack.
According to police reports, Judge Frank Nardi heard a commotion and screams from inside his courtroom about 2:15 p.m. Thursday and ran in from his nearby office. He later told an officer that when he asked Winders what was going on, he replied, "I'm giving her the ass beating she's deserved all her life."
A report by Owen County Chief Deputy Greg Denny outlines what is said to have happened, according to witness statements and footage from a courtroom video camera that taped the altercation.
Attorney Michael Bonnell, who represents Winders, had been talking with his client and the child's mother when he went out to get a file from his car. All was well when he left. And when he returned, the attack was over, the woman was on the floor injured and his client was under arrest.
When Denny arrived, he found the victim lying on the courtroom floor. He said her face was bruised and she had a cut on her forehead; the county health nurse who works in the courthouse and two emergency medical workers were attending to her. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital, and later released.
A custodian came in to help Denny clean up blood from the wooden floor, the carpet and a metal seat bracket.
Denny also photographed a "large amount of long reddish-colored hair" on the floor and collected it as evidence.
Denny then watched the video, which showed the man and woman alone in the courtroom sitting in seats waiting for Bonnell to return.
He said the man then got out of his chair, approached the woman, turned his back and "mule kicked" her two or three times, kicked her in the upper torso and the face, then stamped on the right side of her face when she was on the floor.
At that point, Nardi approached the two and Winders started to leave the courtroom. He was met and stopped by Owen County Prosecutor's Office investigator Dan McBride, who handcuffed Winders.
Owen County Prosecutor Don VanDerMoere said he will review the victim's medical records to determine if the beating resulted in serious bodily injury, which would increase the battery charge to a felony.
The prosecutor also charged Winders with being a habitual substance offender, since he has a 2002 driving while intoxicated conviction and one from 2004 for possession of marijuana.
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