Prison time ordered in baseball bat assault

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A Mitchell man will spend three years in prison for beating another man with a baseball bat last spring.

Colin Kelly Stands, 18, pleaded guilty July 17 to aggravated assault. Judge Rodney Steele sentenced him Tuesday to five years in prison, with two years suspended, and ordered he pay more than $15,000 in restitution.

The victim of the attack suffered skull and facial fractures and a laceration to his left eye.

Stands’ attorney Phil Carlson, of Mitchell, said the attack occurred “in the heat of the moment.” Because this is Stands’ first felony, Carlson requested he receive a suspended imposition of sentence, meaning the conviction would be erased from Stands’ record if he successfully completed probation. If not that, Carlson asked Steele to give Stands a suspended prison sentence and put him on probation.

“Fifteen minutes of poor decisions in your life can affect your life for 15 years,” Carlson said. “I think he has learned his lesson.”

Stands did not speak during his sentencing.

Davison County State’s Attorney Pat Smith requested Stands be sentenced to six years in prison, with three years suspended, saying Stands has “earned a stay” in prison.

Stands was originally scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 4, but because he showed up late to the hearing it was postponed one week, then postponed again when he refused to cooperate with the presentence investigation.

Because of the violent nature of his offense and his unwillingness to cooperate with court services, Steele said Stands was not a candidate for probation.

“You had time to plan and execute it,” Steele said of the assault. “And you did that without remorse.”

Another man, 19-year-old Brent Zephier, was sentenced to 180 days in jail last month for aiding and abetting Stands in the assault.

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