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City man gets 10 years in bat attack
YOUNGSTOWN
A 41-year-old violent felon has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in a home invasion and baseball-bat attack that seriously injured his ex-girlfriend nearly five years ago.
Brian Bigsby of McHenry Street, who had been on the run from authorities for more than three years, drew the sentence Tuesday from Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
A jury convicted Bigsby in February of aggravated burglary and felonious assault in the April 27, 2007, attack on Victor Avenue on the East Side, in which the victim suffered facial injuries and a broken knee cap.
The victim still has vision problems because of the attack, said Rebecca Doherty, chief of the criminal division in the county prosecutor’s office.
Bigsby fled immediately after the attack and was apprehended in Los Angeles in July 2010 and indicted a month later by a Mahoning County grand jury.
“He came over to her house at 2:30 in the morning, forced his way in and beat her with a baseball bat in the presence of his 1-year-old child and her 11-year-old daughter,” Doherty said.
“He needs to be incarcerated just to protect her,” said Michael McBride, an assistant county prosecutor, who called for an 18-year prison term for Bigsby.
“I have been overcharged,” Bigsby said, apologizing for his conduct, but saying he was guilty only of simple assault and did not beat the victim with a baseball bat.
“You beat the hell out of this woman. She says you used a bat. She has injuries consistent with a bat,” having been used to beat her, Judge D’Apolito said.
In addition to Bigsby’s flight, the long delay in concluding the case stemmed from postponements of the trial due to a change in defense lawyers, from defense requests for postponements and from the victim’s need to undergo knee surgery, Doherty said.
Also, Bigsby pleaded guilty to domestic violence in an earlier incident involving the same victim and drew from Judge D’Apolito an 18-month prison term concurrent with his 10-year sentence.
Defense lawyer Jeff Limbian said an appeal will be filed.