rural Carthage man was granted a suspended sentence Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin on a conviction for a felony assault.
Wilmer D. Gastineau, 45, pleaded guilty July 13 to a charge of second-degree assault in a plea agreement with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office. The agreement limited the prison time Gastineau might be assessed to no more than five years and allowed the possibility of a suspended sentence.
Circuit Judge David Dally assessed Gastineau five years at a sentencing hearing Monday, but suspended execution of the sentence and placed him on supervised probation for five years.
Gastineau assaulted David L. Vinyard with a broom handle Jan. 21, 2007, at the defendant’s home at 7421 County Lane 197, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed by a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy. The affidavit states that the assault caused serious injury to the victim, including two black eyes that were swollen shut, deep cuts to his cheek and forehead, and the loss of a portion of one of his ears.
The affidavit states that Gastineau claimed that someone broke into his house and assaulted him, and he simply defended himself. But he could not tell the deputy who had done it. An investigation showed that Vinyard was a friend of Gastineau’s and spent the night at his house. A witness told the deputy that he saw Gastineau poking the victim with the broom handle in the yard.
