Woman takes ‘blind plea’ deal
Published 12:00 am Friday, December 12, 2014
A woman who was indicted by a grand jury in September 2012 for attempted murder for allegedly beating her cousin in the head with a baseball bat and putting her into a coma, plead guilty to a lesser charge shortly before her trial was to begin this week.
According to Star-News archives, Bobbie Jean Carroll, 51, was initially arrested by the Andalusia Police Department in April 2012 for first-degree assault of Penny Gail King. Carroll’s charge was upgraded during the September 2012 grand jury.
According to the arrest affidavit, King was found semi-conscious, lying in the middle of Smith Street in Andalusia.
King was taken to Andalusia Regional Hospital and later airlifted to Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, where she underwent brain surgery and was put into a medically induced coma.
The two had a documented history of conflict allegedly stemming from Carroll’s attempts to maintain custody of King’s disabled mother – and her Social Security checks.
Carroll entered a blind plea to assault I before Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan this week, which means the sentencing is solely at the judge’s discretion.
Carroll faces two to 20 years for the offense. Her sentencing is set for March 10, 2015.
“I am pleased for the victim’s sake that Carroll took responsibility for this crime,” Assistant District Attorney Emmett Massey, who prosecuted the case said. “In essence, the victim of a violent crime relives the attack during trial. The pain and horror of not only the crime, but its aftermath, resurface. Thanks to the thoroughness of Andalusia Police Department’s investigation, and the hard work those officers put in, this victim has been spared that.”