Post by WaTcHeR on Oct 18, 2006 10:06:26 GMT -5
10.18.2006 - NOBLESVILLE -- A former sheriff's deputy accused of battery after hitting his 11-year-old daughter and threatening her with jail if she told on him has agreed to plead guilty in the case, authorities said.
Hamilton County court and prosecution officials said Mark A. Poynter, 51, is scheduled to plead guilty in a hearing set for Thursday in Superior Court 3.
Poynter, a Noblesville resident who resigned from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department after he was charged in September 2005, had been scheduled for trial this week.
He faces felony charges of battery causing bodily injury and obstruction of justice, plus misdemeanor intimidation.
Deputy Prosecutor Doug Swift said the trial set for Tuesday was canceled after Poynter and his lawyer requested a negotiated plea agreement.
As part of any plea agreement involving multiple charges, one or more counts are often dropped to obtain a guilty plea. Prosecutors also can agree on a range of punishment at sentencing.
Poynter, formerly of Westfield, became a target of investigation after two women called police in May 2005 to report their children's claims that he had angrily interrupted their play with his daughter and hit her.
The children said Poynter choked his daughter, hit her in the face with his hands and knocked her head against his car window after forcing her into the vehicle.
"As he pulled away from the scene, the witnesses indicated she was crying, screaming and holding her hand up against her face in the area of her eye," according to a court statement of evidence submitted by Indiana State Police Detective Michael R. Minnicus.
Besides the victim's corroboration, Minnicus said, evidence includes photos of the girl's bruised and swollen eye.
A Westfield Intermediate School counselor also had documented a classmate's claim Sept. 6, 2005, about a bandaged arm on the girl.
According to the school official, whose notification of child protection officials led to the State Police investigation, the bandage covered another injury caused by her father, Minnicus said.
www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/LOCAL0104/610180339/1015/LOCAL01
Hamilton County court and prosecution officials said Mark A. Poynter, 51, is scheduled to plead guilty in a hearing set for Thursday in Superior Court 3.
Poynter, a Noblesville resident who resigned from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department after he was charged in September 2005, had been scheduled for trial this week.
He faces felony charges of battery causing bodily injury and obstruction of justice, plus misdemeanor intimidation.
Deputy Prosecutor Doug Swift said the trial set for Tuesday was canceled after Poynter and his lawyer requested a negotiated plea agreement.
As part of any plea agreement involving multiple charges, one or more counts are often dropped to obtain a guilty plea. Prosecutors also can agree on a range of punishment at sentencing.
Poynter, formerly of Westfield, became a target of investigation after two women called police in May 2005 to report their children's claims that he had angrily interrupted their play with his daughter and hit her.
The children said Poynter choked his daughter, hit her in the face with his hands and knocked her head against his car window after forcing her into the vehicle.
"As he pulled away from the scene, the witnesses indicated she was crying, screaming and holding her hand up against her face in the area of her eye," according to a court statement of evidence submitted by Indiana State Police Detective Michael R. Minnicus.
Besides the victim's corroboration, Minnicus said, evidence includes photos of the girl's bruised and swollen eye.
A Westfield Intermediate School counselor also had documented a classmate's claim Sept. 6, 2005, about a bandaged arm on the girl.
According to the school official, whose notification of child protection officials led to the State Police investigation, the bandage covered another injury caused by her father, Minnicus said.
www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/LOCAL0104/610180339/1015/LOCAL01