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Published On: Wed, Mar 14th, 2018

Light sentence for baseball bat attack on stepfather

Judge's GavelPHLIPSBURG – An argument between a man and his stepfather on August 30 of last year ended in ill-treatment of the latter with a baseball bat and in an attempt to set his car on fire. Stepson Christopher Carel Roosevelt Maccow, 46, stood trial on Wednesday morning in the Court in First Instance for his actions, where he received a prison sentence of 162 days, with 60 days suspended and 2 years of probation. Maccow spent the remaining 102 days earlier in pre-trial detention.

Maccow’s stepfather had locked the gate to the property where he lives together with his stepson and refused to open it when asked to do so. Maccow gave him ten minutes to open the gate and when his 72-year old victim did not comply he grabbed a baseball bat and ill-treated him. Afterwards he attempted to set his victim’s car on fire.

The defendant confessed  to what he had done. That confession, combined with the victim’s complaint and medical information were sufficient for the public prosecutor to find Maccow guilty.

“That the injuries were not that bad is not due to this defendant,” the prosecutor said. “This could have ended much worse.”

Because Maccow expressed regrets and had cooperated with the investigation and with the probation office, the prosecutor did not want to send him back to jail. He demanded 180 days of imprisonment, with 78 days suspended and 3 years of probation. As special conditions, he asked the court for a mandatory reporting duty to the probation office, mandatory anger management training and mandatory treatment at Turning Point for alcohol abuse. “If you don’t show up there you will have to serve those 78 days,” the prosecutor said.

Attorney Geert Hatzmann noted that the victim is not a fragile senior and said that 120 days with deduction of time serves would be sufficient.

The judge sought some middle ground with a sentence of 162 days with 60 days suspended and 2 years of probation, plus the conditions demanded by the public prosecutor.