A Knox man was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court last week after pleading guilty in a plea agreement to a charge of battery resulting in serious bodily injury as a Level 5 Felony.
David Pastorcik, 22, admitted to Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall that he hit a relative in the face several times causing an eye injury in an incident on Dec 5, 2019.
When reviewing facts during the sentencing portion of the plea and sentencing hearing, Judge Hall noted that Pastorcik had been on pretrial release for several months and did not violate the terms of his pretrial release. That was a mitigating factor, or factor in his favor, as well as the fact that he has the support of his family and he is employed. The victim asked for leniency in the matter. One aggravating factor found was that Pastorcik committed the crime while on probation.
The plea agreement negotiated between Defense Attorney Timothy Lemon and Starke County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Micah Cox capped the amount of time on the charge to four years. Judge Hall did sentence Pastorcik to four years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with one year suspended to be served on probation. Pastorcik was permitted to serve his sentence on electronic monitoring through Starke County Court Services. He must participate in any programs deemed necessary by Starke County Court Services and pay court costs. He may petition the court for modification of his sentence at any time. A no contact order with the victim was vacated.
