Man pleads guilty to attacking colleague with box cutter

An Arkansas man pleaded guilty this week to attacking a colleague with a box cutter outside a Cape Girardeau hotel.

Robert L. Brewer, 40, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, originally had been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in connection with the Aug. 7 attack.

According to a probable-cause statement filed by Cpl. Bryan Blanner of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, officers arrived at Drury Lodge, 104 Vantage Drive, to find the victim holding a blood-soaked towel to the left side of his face and neck.

The victim's entire chest and back were covered in blood, and he had one-half to one-inch-deep lacerations to his neck; face; right shoulder; and left thigh, Blanner wrote.

The victim said he, Brewer and several other employees of an Arkansas-based roofing company had been in Cape Girardeau to complete a job when they decided to go to The Pony nightclub in East Cape Girardeau, Illinois, after work, Blanner wrote.

The victim and Brewer got into an argument on the way back, and when they returned to the hotel, Brewer "began wildly slashing" at the victim with a folding box cutter, Blanner wrote.

Brewer waived his Miranda rights and eventually admitted to cutting the victim, saying he did so in self-defense after the victim put him in a choke hold -- a claim inconsistent with the victim's injuries, Blanner wrote.

Brewer pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree assault. Prosecutors dropped the armed criminal action charge, online court records show.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 8.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

104 Vantage Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO