Hyten to do no jail time following plea agreement
BRAZIL -- A former Putnam County official will spend no time in jail for beating his wife in late May.
Kim Hyten, 43, Fillmore, who was officially fired as Putnam County Planner and Emergency Management Director last month, recently changed his plea to guilty to charges of strangulation and battery resulting in bodily injury.
Under the terms of the plea agreement with Clay County Prosecutor Lee Reberger, Hyten was given a two-year sentence -- a year for each charge -- with all of the time suspended. Instead of incarceration, Hyten will spend 200 days on electronic in-home detention and two years on probation.
Wife Karen Reeves-Hyten testified in favor of the plea agreement, saying she wished Clay Circuit Court Judge Joseph Trout to accept it.
Hyten originally faced four charges for the domestic incidents. He was charged with Class D felony counts of strangulation and criminal confinement and Class A misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and interference with a criminal investigation.
The agreement dropped the criminal confinement and interference charges and reduced the strangulation charge to a misdemeanor.
Clay County officials handled the case because both Hyten and his wife were Putnam County employees at the time of the crimes.