BOBBY WINEBARGER

IRON MOUNTAIN — An Iron Mountain man convicted of beating a woman with a 2-foot socket wrench in June will serve a minimum of 18 months in prison.

Bobby Winebarger Jr., 36, was sentenced Tuesday in Dickinson County Circuit Court to as many as 10 years in prison for assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, the maximum sentence for the felony.

Defense attorney Greg Seibold said Winebarger regretted the violent confrontation, though he has difficulty expressing that regret.

“Regardless, he understands he has to pay the consequences for his actions,” Seibold said.

But Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristin Kass was unconvinced Winebarger had accepted responsibility.

Winebarger’s “constant contact” with his victim after the assault — which included thousands of text messages he sent while free on bond — demonstrated his lack of remorse, Kass said.

“I’ve read every single text message,” Kass said. “Not one was an apology.”

Kass noted the assault lasted mere seconds but changed the course of lives. The victim, Kass said, lost her spleen and was scarred both physically and emotionally.

The victim described the pain she endured as a result of the beating as unlike anything she had experienced — including childbirth — and said Winebarger had not taken responsibility for the attack.

“When I was at the hospital, police officers informed me that Bobby had denied everything,” the woman said, later adding, “All he did was play the victim.”

Winebarger said he was “confronting issues that nobody could even know about” at the time of the assault.

“I’m sorry that this happened. I never meant for any of it to happen,” Winebarger said. “I handle things differently than most because of the way I was raised, so I don’t show a lot of emotion. But if you ask anybody what kind of a person I am, that knows me, my children? They’ll tell you I’m a good father and a good person and I help people.”

Dickinson County Circuit Judge Mary Barglind said Winebarger attempted to sound apologetic without admitting fault.

“A person that is truly remorseful, truly sorry, for taking a wrench to their (victim’s) body — causing the loss of an organ and surgery — that person doesn’t make excuses. That person stands up before the court like a man and accepts responsibility,” Barglind said. “I didn’t hear that, Mr. Winebarger.”

In addition to his prison term, Winebarger was also sentenced to two 93-day jail sentences for bond violations. The first sentence will be served concurrently with his prison term; the second will be served consecutively.

According to the criminal complaint, Winebarger repeatedly struck a woman in the abdomen with a wrench June 11, causing injuries severe enough to require surgery.

The assault was reported after the 27-year-old woman came to the Dickinson County Memorial Hospital emergency room with what were described as significant injuries, according to an earlier news release from Iron Mountain Director of Police and Fire Services Ed Mattson.

Winebarger pleaded guilty Oct. 15, one day before his jury trial was set to begin.

In exchange, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristin Kass agreed to dismiss a separate file in Dickinson County District Court in which Winebarger was charged with witness intimidation, a 15-year felony.