CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — A 23-year-old man accused of attacking a male victim at a party in Clarion last spring was sentenced yesterday to probation.
On Wednesday, May 22, President Judge James Arner sentenced 23-year-old Isaiah Marcell Williams, of Greensburg, to two years of probation on a second-degree misdemeanor count of simple assault.
Court documents indicate Williams pleaded guilty to the above charge on April 24, 2019.
As a result of the plea agreement, the following charges were dismissed:
– Aggravated Assault, Felony 2
Details of the case:
According to a criminal complaint, around 2:47 a.m. on May 5, 2018, Trooper Hotchkiss, of Clarion-based State Police, was dispatched to the Clarion Hospital Emergency Room for a male victim who had arrived with injuries consistent to knife wounds.
Trooper Hotchkiss interviewed the known victim who related that he had received threatening messages that week from Isaiah Williams regarding a prior incident in which Williams said the victim was using racial slurs. The victim said Williams told him via Instagram that someone would “get it on (sight).”
The victim reported that he had been at a party on South Fifth Avenue in Clarion and decided to go outside. When he walked out into the driveway, he was blindsided and hit from behind; he then fell down and “felt like a bunch of people were beating” on him. The victim said he felt pain to the back of his head and his hands.
The complaint states that Trooper Hotchkiss observed injuries to the victim’s face, the back of his head, his hands, and his inner thighs.
Trooper Hotchkiss then received information that a video taken of the incident using a cell phone was being circulated online. Trooper Hotchkiss made contact with the first witness who possessed the video.
According to the complaint, the first witness reported that he was at an apartment in Clarion, and Williams was showing the video around. Trooper Hotchkiss asked the witness if Williams mentioned anything about the video, and the witness said it’s the same video that has been circulating through Twitter.
Trooper Hotchkiss viewed the video footage, and a copy of the video was entered into evidence.
The description of Isaiah Williams was consistent with the man who attacked the victim.
According to the complaint, Williams allegedly attacked the victim by striking him in the head with a glass bottle, knocking him to the ground. He then struck the victim with his fists and cut the victim on his hands and thighs with a sharp object.
A second witness, who was at the South Fifth Avenue residence where the incident occurred, was also interviewed and stated that he was outside when the victim came out of the house.
The witness reported that he saw a “group of guys” come out of the woods behind the victim. He said he saw a guy he knows as Isaiah Williams blindside the victim by punching him in the face and reported that when the victim fell, Williams continued punching him while the other guys formed a circle around them.
A third witness who knew the victim reported that she was inside the South Fifth Avenue residence when the incident occurred, and when she went outside, it was already over. She saw several black males standing around the victim, according to the complaint.
