HANCOCK COUNTY — A woman accused of punching one Hancock County sheriff’s deputy in the eye and biting another when they tried to intervene in a domestic dispute will not spend any time in prison.
Ashleigh Ruth Coates, 33, Greenfield, was facing two Level 5 felony charges of battery with bodily injury to a public safety officer; a Level 6 felony count of battery by bodily wastel; and two misdemeanors. Instead of being sent to prison for possibly more than 15 years, a plea deal resulting in probation was accepted last week.
Coates was in Hancock County Superior Court 1 on Tuesday, Dec. 10, where Court Commissioner Cody Coombs accepted the recommendation of the county’s probation department to put Coates on probation rather than lock her up for years.
The deal required Coates to plead guilty to the two Level 5 felony charges, which typically carry a sentence of two years in prison for each count, with the sentence suspended to four years of probation. Coates was also ordered to undergo a psychological and substance abuse evaluation and follow the conditions associated with her probation for the full four years.
Deputy prosecutor Kevin Kelly agreed to the deal, noting that the deputies did not object to the agreement.
The court also ordered Coates to pay any fees associated with the injuries the officers sustained during the altercation. Both officers had to pay at least $157 through their insurance plans, which Coates will have to reimburse.
The court noted Coates was “actually remorseful” during an interview as part of the pre-sentence investigation. She had no comment, however, when Coombs asked her if she wanted to say anything before he handed down his decision.
Coates was originally arrested in September after deputies from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department tried to get her to leave her ex-boyfriend’s house peacefully. The ex-boyfriend told deputies he wanted Coates, with whom he had broken up, to be removed from his property, located in the 200 block of North County Road 600E.
After deputies warned her to leave the property, she began shouting and was verbally aggressive with the deputies and her ex-boyfriend, an affidavit said.
When one of the deputies reached for her arm in an effort to get her to leave, she struck him in the left eye with a closed fist, the affidavit said. As deputies tried to restrain her, she bit another one on the right forearm and spit in the deputy’s face, the affidavit said.
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