NEWS

Man sentenced to 20 years in case of beating, branding and rape

Stephen Herzog
SHERZOG@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Three remaining cases against defendants in a Webster County rape and assault are nearing completion, with one being sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison.

David A. Lowery, 21, pleaded guilty in August to forcible rape and first-degree assault causing serious physical injury — the most serious charges facing any of the four defendants — and Wednesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Lowery and three others — Charles J. Medina, 20; Kristin Prince, 20 and Angelina N. Medina, 19 — were charged in July with an attack deputies say occurred in May.

Prosecutors say the four teamed up to beat, brand and rape a woman who prosecutors say is between the ages of 17 and 25.

Charles Medina pleaded guilty Wednesday to forcible rape and first-degree assault, though Medina's assault charge is a grade less serious than the one to which Lowery pleaded guilty. Charles Medina is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Prince waived her right to a jury trial on Wednesday and a plea hearing was scheduled for later this month. She still faces five felony charges, but the other three have all eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced number of crimes.

Angelina Medina pleaded guilty more than a year ago to charges of first-degree assault and felonious restraint. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison but had the sentence suspended, instead serving 120 days in the Webster County Jail with a required 150 hours of community service. She'll be on supervised probation for five years.

According to the combined accounts of the four charged, Prince and Angelina Medina first attacked the woman with a piece of wood and a metal broom handle, striking her in the legs, face, back and stomach. Prince said she swung the piece of wood "like a baseball bat," according to the statement.

After that, Charles Medina and Prince held the woman down while Lowery had sex with her, according to the probable cause statement. All four said the woman told them more than 20 times to stop.

According to the statement, Charles Medina said he held the woman down by her wrists and hit her in the ribs with his elbow. Lowery said he then knocked the woman out with a "superman punch," but the four continued to assault her.

Angelina Medina then branded the woman on her leg with a wire clothes hanger, according to the statement.

The four each said they thought they could have killed the woman, according to the statement.