By Patrick Yost
Editor

A Morgan  County Jury last Thursday returned two guilty verdicts against a man charged with breaking his wife's jaw.
According to Morgan County Superior Court records, Terry Lee Bishop, 39, Rutledge, was found guilty of aggravated assault and aggravated battery and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Hugh V. Wingfield, III to 30 years, with the first 15 years to be served in confinement and the remainder to be served on probation. The court also assessed more than $6,000 in fines and fees to Bishop. He was also banned from the Ocmulgee Judicial District.
The jury returned the verdict in less than 30 minutes after the day and half trial. Assistant District Attorney Alison Burleson prosecuted the case for the state.
As part of the sentencing, records indicate, Bishop was sentenced as a repeat offender. Records state that Bishop had 10 other convictions from 1991 to 2008 ranging from burglary, escape to possession of methamphetamine and cocaine.
According to arrest warrants, Bishop was arrested on March 21, 2011 and charged with striking his wife three times in the face and breaking her jaw in several places. In a letter to the court dated June 26, 2012, Bishop wrote the court and said he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs during the incident and that he "blacked out and awakened in the county jail..."
The court also accepted a plea agreement for Eli Thomas Peek, 24, Madison. Peek pled guilty to one count reckless driving. Peek was sentenced to 12 months probation, 40 hours of community service and ordered to complete a DUI Risk Reduction program. Peek was arrested by the Georgia State Patrol on May 8, 2011, court records state.

Printed in the January 31, 2013 edition