Defendant Sentenced to Six Years for Aggravated Assault

A jury found Jonathon Bradley Lynch guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on February 17, 2011, after deliberating for an hour and fifteen minutes. Assistant District Attorney Scott Holden represented the State.

Witnesses for the State painted a picture of the brutal assault which took place on October 31, 2007, in the early hours of the morning. The defendant picked up the victim in his car around midnight, and drove her out to a deserted stretch of road just outside of the Palestine city limits. There he took her from the car at knifepoint, forced her to remove her clothes and methodically beat her with a baseball bat. The motive-the victim owed him twenty dollars. “He wanted to send a message,” one witness observed. After the assault, the defendant left the victim on the side of the road with only a jacket. The victim took the stand during the State’s case in chief and tearfully described walking barefoot and nearly naked towards a dim light in the distance, not knowing if she had the strength make it, and not knowing if she would find help if she did. The victim told the jury, “I started praying to God for the strength to take one more step. After each step, I would pray for the strength to take another. Finally I couldn’t walk anymore. I had to crawl.” The defendant managed to reach the farmhouse and found an elderly couple who took her in, gave her clothes and called an ambulance.

The defense admitted that the defendant had a relationship with the victim, but denied that the defendant had assaulted her. In closing, the defense alleged that the defendant had ended the relationship and the victim decided to blame the assault on the defendant in retaliation. However, Assistant DA Holden pointed out that the victim had never waivered in her story. Bruised, bloody and tearful, the victim told law enforcement on October 31, 2007 that Jonathon Lynch had assaulted her.  Healed, but no less tearful, the victim told the jury on February 16, 2011 that Jonathon Lynch had assaulted her.

After forty-five minutes of deliberation, the jury sentenced Jonathon Lynch to six years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Assistant DA Holden said, “This is a victory for the citizens of Anderson County. It doesn’t matter who you are, if a crime is committed against you the perpetrator will pay.”