Two beating victims said they didn't know attacker

Neither victim of beatings in Cape Girardeau said they knew his attacker until they woke up with injuries.

Leonard McAdory, 31, and Ethan Flood, 26, both of Cape Girardeau, testified against Ryan Perry Harkey, 27, of Cape Girardeau in a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Harkey is charged with two counts of felony first-degree assault.

McAdory said he was alone the night of Jan. 28 and walking downtown on Main Street, near Independence Street, when he saw a fight involving several people, including Harkey, in front of Pyramid Home Health Services.

McAdory said he tried to break up the fight and ended up in a conversation with Harkey. He said Harkey offered to pay him $200 or $300 to beat up one of the other men in the fight. McAdory refused, and Harkey offered to go get a beer.

The next thing McAdory remembered was being on the ground.

Assistant prosecuting attorney Frank Miller submitted six photos of McAdory’s injuries that included a broken nose, a swollen face and a cut behind his left ear. There also was a photo McAdory said was his blood on the ground. McAdory said Cape Girardeau police showed him a surveillance video from that night and showed a picture of Harkey. McAdory told defense attorney Arthur Margulis he was only shown one picture.

McAdory still did not know Harkey’s name when he testified, referring to the defendant by his location in the courtroom and pointing to him. McAdory also told Miller and Margulis he had been drinking beer that night. He could not say exactly how many beers he drank, but he said he still was lucid when the attack occurred.

Flood was walking back to Dempsey’s Drinkery to pay a tab about midnight when he ran into Harkey and Allen Wayne Biggs, 24, of Scott City, whom he thought were walking out of the bar.

Harkey asked Flood two questions, including one that prompted Flood to turn his head to the right, exposing the left side of his face.

The next thing he remembered was waking up in Saint Francis Medical Center.

“I woke up in what I now know is Saint Francis Hospital and asked for a bucket to vomit in,” Flood said.

Flood suffered a skull fracture, a concussion, ruptured eardrum and a fractured eye socket, among other injuries. Flood had a black left eye when he testified, part of an injury from that night that will not completely heal. Miller submitted one photo of Flood in the hospital.

Flood said he only knew Harkey’s and Biggs’ names during the investigation after the attack.

Margulis did not cross-examine Flood.

Judge Scott Thomsen found there was sufficient probable cause in the case. Assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff said there were more witnesses prepared to testify, if necessary. Harkey and Biggs, who waived his preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday, were bound over to April 25 to be seen in front of Judge Benjamin Lewis.

Biggs was charged with first-degree assault and felony resisting arrest.

Harkey pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Franklin County Circuit Court in 2012 in the stabbing death of Jerry Conrad in front of Rumors Bar in Cape Girardeau.

bkleine@semissourian.com

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127 N. Water St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.