A Hillsdale Circuit Court judge sentenced Robert McCoy, 31, to serve 11-20 years in a Michigan correctional facility on Monday for committing great bodily harm less than murder.
This was McCoy’s eighth felony offense; he also has 15 misdemeanors. McCoy’s criminal history began in 2001 and includes multiple breakings of parole, dealing and using narcotics, open intoxication, driving on suspended license, disorderly person jostling, and attempting to sell cocaine to an undercover police officer.
The felony that is putting him behind bars this time is a physical attack on Belinda Payne on May 5, from which Payne sustained multiple injuries, including a fractured skull, brain bleeding, a broken nose and black eye.
According to the Hillsdale County Sheriff incident report, when police arrived at the scene, there were numerous witnesses standing around Payne, who was sitting on the ground. It was believed that she had been knocked out, and she could not remember what happened.
Her brother Michael Payne explained later in a police interview that McCoy and his friend Brett Bowditch showed up at the house while he, his sister, and some friends were socializing around a bonfire. McCoy asked to speak to Michael Payne, and shortly after, McCoy started throwing punches. When Belinda Payne and her boyfriend Joshua Childers, stepped in to help, McCoy hit Belinda Payne and Bowditch attacked Childers. No motivation or reason was given by witness reports as to the start of the fight.
While the Paynes indicated that they wanted to press charges against McCoy, Childers chose not to press charges against Bowditch. This story is the account of the Paynes and Childers. McCoy and Bowditch were unavailable at the time of the report.
In the victim impact statement, Payne indicated that she continues to be under medical care, suffers from frequent headaches, repeats herself often, had initial short-term memory loss, and has continued nightmares about the incident. Payne attended the sentencing and was in tears as she described how she could barely care for her 6-year-old daughter or explain what happened to her in the days following the attack. The lawyer representing Payne called McCoy “a random tornado of destruction.”
The judge said that McCoy needed long-term disciple due to the repetitive nature of his crimes and disrespect for the law in general. When McCoy had a chance to speak, he apologized claiming he was trying to reform, yet he left the courtroom smiling.