Sentencing was deferred until pre-sentence investigation is completed.
Frederick, Md (KM). After deliberating for more than three hours on Monday, a jury found John Mullican IV, 39, of Frederick, guilty of 1st-degree assault and 2nd-degree assault in connection with a domestic violence incident last year.
Mullican had been on trial since May 18th.
State’s Attorney Charlie Smith says Mullican was arrested following a domestic incident in October, 2016. Deputies were dispatched to Houck Road in Union Bridge for a disturbance. En route, deputies learned that Mullican was banging on the bathroom door, where the victim was hiding.
When they arrived, authorities met the victim outside of the house. “The victim had stated the defendant grabbed her and slammed her into items of furniture. It was actually a stone coffee table where he slammed her head into this stone coffee talking, causing some pretty severe laceration, causing some brain injury,” Smith says.
The victim was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital. “There they diagnosed her with a fractured nose, an injury to her right eye, basically her orbital bone had been broken. She required staples on the back of her head, and she had all sorts of hemorrhages,” he says.
Smith says Mullican’s attorney tried to argue that the victim’s injuries resulted from falling down drunk, but the evidence didn’t support that.
Circuit Court Judge Scott Rolle revoked bond for Mullican,and deferred sentencing until a pre-sentence investigation is completed. That will look into the defendant’s prior criminal history, his work record and his family life.
But Smith says Mullican could get a stiff sentence. He says the first- and second-degree assault will be folded into one. “The guidelines will be somewhere up to 20 years on this particular offense. He could face a maximum penalty of 25-years. But he’s also backing up time on a couple of other offenses on which he’s on probation,” says Smith.
No sentencing date has been scheduled.
By Kevin McManus