Spencer man gets four years for confining, beating woman

A Spencer man was sentenced Monday to two years in prison and two years on probation for holding a Cloverdale woman against her will and battering her.

Charles M. Collins, 41, was convicted of Class D felony criminal confinement and Class A misdemeanor battery. He received the maximum sentences -- three years on the felony and one year on the misdemeanor. Judge Matthew Headley suspended the entire misdemeanor sentence and two years of the felony sentence. Collins will receive credit for the 99 days he has served in the Putnam County Jail.

The sentence was a medium between the request of the state for a three-year executed sentence and Collins' attorney Melinda Jackman-Hanlin's request for a suspended sentence and probation time.

Collins admitted that on Jan. 17, he took held his victim hostage in her apartment and battered her throughout the night before she was able to summon help the next day.

Court records said the alleged victim sustained several injuries at Collins' hand, including two black eyes, various scratches and bruises and swelling to her lower lip and the bridge of her nose.

In court, Collins portrayed the incident as a lover's spat gone too far. On the evening of the crime, he said, he had "drank a little bit; she drank a whole lot."

Collins said his victim would often get drunk and show up on his doorstep at odd hours, and that he "was tired of it." He said on the night of the attack, he was waiting for the victim to come back to her home, and when she did she was "belligerent, cussing and stuff."

Headley was not swayed by Collins' explanations.

"You're blaming her, and she's the one who got the tar beat out of her," he said. "She sustained substantial injuries. This isn't a one-time punch or a one-time slap, which is against the law anyway. Being tired of it doesn't give you the right to physically assault her."

Putnam County Deputy Prosecutor Justin Long said the prosecutor's office and the probation department had both tried to contact the victim in the case, but that she had not responded to the letters that had been sent to her.

"I want to apologize to (the victim's) family today," Collins said.