Local man gets prison time for attack on wife

A Mitchell man was sentenced to a prison term Tuesday for the aggravated assault of his wife at their residence in December.

William John Corcoran, 38, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with eight years suspended, for as the result of an incident Dec. 10 in which he attacked his wife, Robyn Jewel, by punching, choking and head-butting her.

He also broke his wife’s phone when she attempted to call 911 during the attack, and he fled the scene before police arrived, only to return later by breaking in through a window. He then struck his wife twice in the head with a glass bottle.

Corcoran then locked himself in his home, forcing Mitchell Police to knock down the door and arrest him.

He pleaded guilty to the felony assault charge Jan. 20.

“I didn’t even realize how bad I was getting,” Corcoran told the court Tuesday. “I didn’t even used to drink. I started drinking and could stop for a couple days, but couldn’t stay stopped.”

Before reading Corcoran’s sentence, Judge Sean O’Brien addressed Corcoran’s alcohol problem, which contributed to the assault.

“You’re lucky you haven’t killed anybody up to this point, because you certainly could have,” O’Brien said. “You should have recognized a long time ago the problems with consuming alcohol.”

Tuesday’s sentencing is the result of Corcoran’s third felony conviction. He was convicted twice of third-degree burglary, first in 1992 and again in 1993.

He was also charged with aggravated assault once before for an incident in April 2010, in which he attacked another Mitchell man by throwing a beer can at him, biting his face and chasing him with an ax after the man walked by Corcoran’s house.

He pleaded guilty to simple assault for the incident and was fined $500 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 170 days suspended.

Corcoran was living at Stepping Stones in Mitchell and involved in a rehabilitation program there prior to Tuesday’s sentencing.

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