SEMO student pleads guilty in December assault, is sentenced to probation

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- The first Southeast Missouri State University student charged in a Dec. 13 assault pleaded guilty Tuesday and was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Fred W. Copeland to one year of unsupervised probation.

Brett A. Jones, 19, of St. Clair, Mo., pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and trespassing for breaking into a Dunklin Street home and participating in the beating of 21-year-old Blake Carlton. He was arrested Jan. 25.

Four other Southeast students have been charged in connection with the incident. None of those cases has gone to trial yet.

At a preliminary hearing last week for Antonio Garritano, charged with third-degree assault and first-degree burglary in the case, Carlton testified that he suffered severe head injuries from the beating.

Jones, who was on Southeast's 2009 football roster, has said he only hit Carlton in the face once. Jones testified May 13 that Garritano hit Carlton about 15 times.

Jones also testified that he and the other Southeast students went to 1325 Dunklin St. after he had been jumped by several Pikes, members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at Southeast, outside another residence on that street. He said they went there to fight whoever assaulted him.

The judge ordered Jones to have no contact with Carlton and, as a special condition of probation, to testify in any proceedings about the assault.

Jones has no prior convictions.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent addresses:

450 Main St., New Madrid, MO

1325 Dunklin St., Cape Girardeau, MO