Charges have been dismissed against two people involved in a brawl sparked by a racial slur on a residential Glenwood, Iowa, street in September.
Denver Cook, 19, had been charged with willful injury, a felony, and assault causing bodily injury, a misdemeanor. Colton McDaniel, 21, had been charged with assault causing bodily injury.
The charges stemmed from a fight involving several people, including Cook, McDaniel, Hurl Beechum III and Beechum’s stepfather, Glenwood High School Principal Richard Hutchinson.
Charges against Cook and McDaniel were dismissed because of lack of evidence, court orders filed Monday say.
“We believe the evidence does not show they were the primary aggressors,” Mills County Attorney Tricia McSorley said Tuesday. “It definitely became apparent as we continued to investigate” after the two were arrested.
Beechum, 42, remains charged with three felonies — intimidation with a dangerous weapon, willful injury and going armed with intent — and two misdemeanor counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. His trial begins next week.
McSorley would not elaborate because of the pending trial.
Messages left with attorneys for Cook and Beechum were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.
James Martin Davis, McDaniel’s attorney, described his client as a victim in the incident.
“I told them from the beginning my client wasn’t guilty,” Davis said Tuesday. “He got shot. He was in a wheelchair for several months.”
McDaniel still has trouble getting around, Davis said.
Court documents initially filed in the case described the fight this way:
McDaniel, Cook and four others were walking on Myrtle Street near Hutchinson’s home. Hutchinson and his wife, Randi Hutchinson, were cleaning their car in the driveway.
One of the girls with McDaniel and Cook was on her cellphone, talking to her boyfriend, when she uttered a racial slur.
As the group passed his house, Hutchinson, who is black, made contact with them and asked why someone had used the slur.
The group began to argue with him. Randi Hutchinson went to get Beechum. A fight ensued. Hutchinson, who was knocked unconscious, suffered a fractured bone in his face. Beechum was later treated for abrasions and a laceration to the back of his head.
McDaniel was shot in his left thigh and right ankle.
As police arrived, Beechum held out his hands with a handgun and said, “They jumped us so I had to shoot him,” according to an affidavit. Police took the gun.
Beechum is a former Iowa State University basketball player who played in the early 1990s.
None of the juveniles had been charged in the case, McSorley said.
http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/cha...cle_d1e98f2e-b981-11e5-a3dc-fb34f9a8a0d6.html
Denver Cook, 19, had been charged with willful injury, a felony, and assault causing bodily injury, a misdemeanor. Colton McDaniel, 21, had been charged with assault causing bodily injury.
The charges stemmed from a fight involving several people, including Cook, McDaniel, Hurl Beechum III and Beechum’s stepfather, Glenwood High School Principal Richard Hutchinson.
Charges against Cook and McDaniel were dismissed because of lack of evidence, court orders filed Monday say.
“We believe the evidence does not show they were the primary aggressors,” Mills County Attorney Tricia McSorley said Tuesday. “It definitely became apparent as we continued to investigate” after the two were arrested.
Beechum, 42, remains charged with three felonies — intimidation with a dangerous weapon, willful injury and going armed with intent — and two misdemeanor counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. His trial begins next week.
McSorley would not elaborate because of the pending trial.
Messages left with attorneys for Cook and Beechum were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.
James Martin Davis, McDaniel’s attorney, described his client as a victim in the incident.
“I told them from the beginning my client wasn’t guilty,” Davis said Tuesday. “He got shot. He was in a wheelchair for several months.”
McDaniel still has trouble getting around, Davis said.
Court documents initially filed in the case described the fight this way:
McDaniel, Cook and four others were walking on Myrtle Street near Hutchinson’s home. Hutchinson and his wife, Randi Hutchinson, were cleaning their car in the driveway.
One of the girls with McDaniel and Cook was on her cellphone, talking to her boyfriend, when she uttered a racial slur.
As the group passed his house, Hutchinson, who is black, made contact with them and asked why someone had used the slur.
The group began to argue with him. Randi Hutchinson went to get Beechum. A fight ensued. Hutchinson, who was knocked unconscious, suffered a fractured bone in his face. Beechum was later treated for abrasions and a laceration to the back of his head.
McDaniel was shot in his left thigh and right ankle.
As police arrived, Beechum held out his hands with a handgun and said, “They jumped us so I had to shoot him,” according to an affidavit. Police took the gun.
Beechum is a former Iowa State University basketball player who played in the early 1990s.
None of the juveniles had been charged in the case, McSorley said.
http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/cha...cle_d1e98f2e-b981-11e5-a3dc-fb34f9a8a0d6.html
