Man accused of beating neighbor (RSO) found guilty on all charges

10-9-2010 Maryland:

William Bryan Bolton Jr. was convicted of first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and endangerment while intoxic

A Boonsboro man accused of beating his neighbor with a club in 2009 was found guilty on all charges Thursday at the end of a bench trial before Washington County Circuit Court Judge John H. McDowell.

William Bryan Bolton Jr., 50, of 8613 Sharpsburg Pike, was convicted of first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and endangerment while intoxicated, according to court records. The first-degree assault conviction carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

McDowell ordered a presentence report prepared. Bolton could face up to 25 years in prison on the first-degree assault conviction.

Shortly before 10 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2009, Washington County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the home of John Vincent Miller Sr. for a report of an assault.

“It was around Halloween time and he really looked like a scarecrow,” Deputy 1st Class Tom Routzahn testified about seeing Miller sitting on his porch. Miller was bleeding from a large cut over his eye and “his ear was about cut in half.”

Deputies went next door to Bolton’s house and found Bolton sitting on a couch with the 30-inch club at his feet.

“I did it. I hit him,” Bolton told Routzahn twice, according to the deputy’s testimony.

“He told me three times he would kill him and he would finish the job when he got out,” Routzahn said about statements Bolton made while being driven to be booked.

Josephine Spessard, 75, who lives with Bolton, testified for the defense that Miller, 68, had tried to rape her in March 2009. Miller testified earlier Spessard had made advances toward him, but that he was not interested.

Bolton testified Miller had been throwing rocks at him from his front yard and that he grabbed the club from his van. He was walking into his house when Spessard warned him that Miller was running up behind him, Bolton testified.

Bolton testified he turned around and pushed Miller “and then I panicked and then I hit him.”

Miller told the deputies that shortly before the assault, Bolton had put a flier on his car stating that Miller was a registered sex offender, according to the statement of probable cause. ..Source.. DON AINES