Jury finds man guilty of partner assault -- not attempted murder

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 11, 2007 | by Sara Israelsen Deseret Morning News

AMERICAN FORK -- After two days of graphic and often startling testimony, a jury found a man guilty of assaulting his girlfriend -- not trying to kill her.

Alonzo Mosley, 35, will be sentenced June 29 on charges of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury and violation of a protective order, according to a jury verdict returned late Thursday.

Mosley was originally charged in 4th District Court with attempted murder for punching his girlfriend and shoving her head underwater in the bathtub.

"I stated in opening (statements) that this was going to be an ugly case," prosecutor Chad Grunander told the jury. "I think that's true. The truth is oftentimes ugly, and it's offensive. But what's offensive is the truth (that) Alonzo Mosley attempted to cause the death of (his girlfriend) when he repeatedly beat her then attempted to drown her."

Mosley denied he tried to drown his girlfriend, but admitted he was intoxicated when he punched her at least 10 times.

"It's hard for me to believe that I did what I did," he testified Wednesday. "I feel horrible. I've never done that to anybody ... especially somebody as close as Teri. I know I deserve punishment."

A second-degree felony of aggravated assault with serious injury has a potential of one to 15 years in prison. The class A misdemeanor of violating a protective order could mean a year behind bars.

Both Mosley and his girlfriend had been drinking when they got to Mosley's friend's apartment. Once there, the friend and the girlfriend began flirting and when they later performed a sex act together, Mosley exploded.

Defense attorney Richard Gale never asked the jury for a not- guilty verdict. However, he said Mosley never tried to kill, and he focused comments on "degree of guilt."

The jury had to decide if the crime was attempted murder with serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony, or something less severe, such as aggravated assault with serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony or just assault with substantial injuries -- a class A misdemeanor.

The legal definition for a "serious" bodily injury is something permanently disfiguring or an injury that causes permanent loss of use, Gale said, such as a severed arm or brain damage.

"She does not look disfigured," Gale said about the girlfriend. "You would never know that she had been assaulted and looked like she had in those pictures."

But prosecutors argued five metal plates in her face, recurring headaches and pain in her jaw after eating are permanent things the victim will deal with for the rest of her life.

"She's changed," Grunander said. "She sees it every day in the mirror. Your face is your identity, it's who you are. She looks different. That is serious and it's permanent disfigurement."

E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com