Man facing felony battery charges

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

A Greencastle man was formally charged with felony battery in Putnam County Circuit Court Monday.

Jeremy L. Musall, 24, is charged with Class C felony battery in connection with a June 5 incident in which John Sanders, 26, of Greencastle was so severely beaten he was hospitalized for several days.

Musall pleaded not guilty to the charges. He requested a public defender, and James Recker was assigned to the case.

Musall was ordered held without bond in the Putnam County Jail, where he was been since June 5. His pretrial conference has not been set.

A Class C felony is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

A probable cause affidavit prepared by Sgt. Charles Inman said he responded to call at 2:32 a.m. on June 5 about a male subject at McClure Oil Corp. "who has apparently been involved in an altercation and was requiring emergency medical assistance."

The subject, who identified himself to Inman as John Sanders, had an extremely swollen face and was covered in blood, the affidavit said.

"Mr. Sanders was quite difficult to understand, as his mouth was beginning to swell shut," the affidavit said.

Sanders identified Musall as his attacker, and said he had been beaten just outside Old Topper's Tavern in Greencastle.

"Sanders advised he had earlier been into an altercation with an unidentified mutual friend of the pair, and believed the attack may have been in retribution," the affidavit said.

Sanders was taken to Putnam County Hospital via ambulance, and was later transferred to Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis. Doctors said "Sanders had suffered what appeared to be a brain bleed" and had "extensive cuts and bruising which would likely require reconstructive plastic surgery."

Musall was located and taken into custody at a Greencastle residence. Witnesses said Musall "struck Sanders with an overhead elbow," and "continued striking Sanders with closed fists until Sanders collapsed on the pavement," then "struck Sanders a couple more times before fleeing the scene."

Musall has a history of violent offenses in Putnam County.

He was sentenced to jail time on Dec. 6, 2007 for a Class A misdemeanor count of battery, and was still on probation when he was arrested June 5. His probation has been revoked.

On May 7, 2007, Musall received a suspended one-year sentence for a charge of Class A misdemeanor domestic battery. He was placed on probation on Oct. 31, 2006 when he was convicted of Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement. On June 21, 2006 Musall was convicted of Class B misdemeanor battery and received a suspended 180-day sentence. In February 2006, he was convicted of Class B misdemeanor battery.

Musall also has open charges of Class A misdemeanor domestic battery and battery resulting in bodily injury, both filed Nov. 14, 2007, pending against him.

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  • He could get up to 8 yrs.in prison for this,but when a friend of mine's ex-husband beat his wife at the time and their kids,all he got was 3 months in jail! Total of all convictions that man had was 6 over his years. How fare was that?! He had beaten on several different people and never got prison time.SO,I agree with you "graydog". Hope he does get prison time!!!

    -- Posted by what_it's_worth on Tue, Jun 10, 2008, at 3:05 AM
  • Maybe we need to look at our prosecutor's office and the court system. Whatever happened to three strikes and your out? If more serious charges were filed instead of plea agreements being accepted then maybe someone's life could be saved.

    -- Posted by B1161 on Tue, Jun 10, 2008, at 7:25 AM
  • Yep, Putnam County's finest at their best. My soon to be ex-husband was arrested in May 2004 and charged with Battery on a minor and Neglect of a dependent. He got a whopping year probation for what he did to his 3 year old daughter. He was again arrested in November 2006 (after off that one year probation) for Criminal Confinement, Battery, and Interferring with a 911 call. Hummm....he spent 5 days in jail until he could come up with $1000.00 bail....then he ended up with, you guessed it, 2 years of probation (the plea agreement dropped the criminal confinement and he pled guilty to battery and interferring with the 911 call). He also had a DUI in March 2007 which should have violated his probation, but they "suspended" a one year sentence on that and he got drug/alcohol classes. All because the jail is too overcrowded and they must look at the "more violent" offenders. That is why I moved away from Putnam County forever.

    -- Posted by proudmomma on Tue, Jun 10, 2008, at 4:33 PM
  • And I take FULL responsibility for staying with the waste of space those 4 years. I learned my lesson.

    -- Posted by proudmomma on Tue, Jun 10, 2008, at 4:34 PM
  • I am a very close friend of Jeremy. I am also John's cousin. I think Jeremy needs to pay his time for what he has done. I also know for a fact that Jeremy is not the only person involved in this incident. Jeremy knows this. John and his family know this. And the GPD knows this. There are parts of this story that are true. There are also parts that are not. The investigation is not complete and some facts have not even been included. Justice needs to be served and Jeremy needs to pay for what he did. But so do the other 5 men that were involved. They have not been detained for anything, and the system wants to blame Jeremy for everything that happened. Yes, he has a history of violence, but come on. Until you have all of the facts, how can anyone point the finger. Look at this from all sides, not just from the outside.

    -- Posted by purplemonkey on Tue, Jun 10, 2008, at 11:57 PM
  • Totally agree w/those asking questions about our system. I'd love to see it posted which prosecutor was involved in every charge in this charmers criminal history. Whomever it is should be held accountable,same with the Judges. Why not a website w/our county actions in the legal sysyem. Please advise if it exsist now.I know about public record,I just think a filtered out record of deals,decisions ect by out prosecutors and judges would be nice.As for what happened in this case,not much sympothy for anyone involved. Bad things happen in bad thing locations.Add alcohol, and really baaaaad things can happen....stay safe and outta harms way.

    -- Posted by honestyisbestpolicy on Wed, Jun 11, 2008, at 7:41 AM
  • they took my last comment out and i know why because i was very right, I had seen john monday at the court house and he looked awful but he is still a cutie under neath all the mess. and i know as well as his sister and the rest of his family justice will be served and the other five will be in jail right along with jeremy...

    -- Posted by girlincloverdale on Thu, Jun 12, 2008, at 7:39 PM
  • wonder why they keep deleteing the true comments and the name not going to put them in there again because they know who they are and plus they will get what lies ahead for them

    -- Posted by girlincloverdale on Sat, Jun 14, 2008, at 9:36 AM
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