Action 8 Update: Two of the defendants in Riverfront Brawl receive plea deals
Four of the five defendants charged in the Montgomery Riverfront Brawl faced Judge Samarria Dunson Friday in Montgomery’s Municipal Court. Witnesses, defendants and victims all had to be at the courthouse at 8am, so it was a long day for all involved. It took seven hours to hammer out plea deals between prosecutors and two of the five defendants charged in the Riverfront Brawl. Mary Todd, who was the only woman charged in the incident, was the first defendant to come to a plea agreement with prosecutors Friday morning. Her original charge of third degree assault was downgraded to harassment. As part of her guilty plea, Todd will have to pay $357 in court costs and complete anger management classes within the next 90 days.
The Harriott II Riverboat’s co-captain Dameion Pickett sat in the courtroom ready to testify, but he was never called because defendant Richard Roberts agreed to a plea deal midway through his bench trial. He pled guilty to two counts of assault 3rd degree and was given a suspended sentence of four months of jail time, which he will serve on the weekends in the Perry County jail beginning in November. If Roberts violates probation during this time, he will have to serve the full four month sentence. He’ll also have to pay court costs for assaulting Dameion Pickett and a 16 year old deckhand on the Harriott II. Roberts is also required to do 100 hours of community service. Roberts stood at the front of the courtroom and apologized to both Pickett and the 16 year old deckhand. He said he made a bad judgement call and he thinks they could have been friends if they’d met under different circumstances.
As he left Dameion Pickett told us he didn’t have time for an interview because it was 3pm and he had to get to his job on the Harriott II Riverboat. Two other defendants were also in court today – Allen Todd and Zachery Shipman. They could not come to an agreement with prosecutors, so their new trial date is set for November 16. The other defendant in the Riverfront Brawl, Reggie Ray, is scheduled to have his hearing on November 16.
