Corpun file 20586
kxii.com (CBS) (KXII-TV, Sherman (TX) and Ardmore (OK), 2 September 2008
Vigilante justice assault suspect appears in Ardmore courtroom
By KXII-TV Staff
![[No caption supplied]](https://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/corpuncom/archive/20586a.jpg)
ARDMORE, Okla. -- One of the identical twin brothers accused of a brutal attack was in an Ardmore courtroom Tuesday morning.
Colby Chase McGinnis, 18, is facing assault and battery charges after a July incident in which another young man was spanked more than 250 times with a studded leather belt. Authorities say the attack was an attempt at vigilante justice.
The incident happened July 23 at a home in the 900 block of west main in Ardmore. Investigators believe alleged ringleader 29-year-old Ronnie Morris was angry at the victim for allegedly forging hot checks in Morris' name. They say the trio of men confronted the victim, taking the law into their own hands, becoming judge and jury, and then giving the victim a choice of punishment ranging from dismemberment, to graphic mutilation, to hundreds of brutal lashes across the backside.
Police say Colby and Jeremiah McGinnis, both 18 years old, and Morris, took turns administering lashes to the unidentified victim.
"Out of 19 years in law enforcement, I haven't seen any one spanked this severely like the victim was. He had severe bruising on his buttock areas," Capt. Kevin Woods of the Ardmore Police Department said in July.
McGinnis appeared for a preliminary conference. The three other suspects in the case, 18-year-old Jeremiah McGinnis, 22 -year-old Ronnie Morris, and 29-year-old Rolanda Braxton, are set to go before a judge on Wednesday.
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Corpun file 20931
The Ardmoreite, Ardmore, Oklahoma, 17 September 2008
Spankers belted with months of jail time
By Marsha Miller
News Editor
Jeremiah McGinnis |
Two of the three men who kidnapped an Ardmore man in July and then spanked him with a studded belt pleaded guilty to charges in district court Wednesday.
Ronnie D. Morris, 22, and Jeremiah P. McGinnis, 18, appeared before Associate District Judge Lee Card. Morris and McGinnis both entered guilty pleas to charges of kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The twosome were returned to the Cater County Jail after Card ordered them to serve four-year sentences with all but six months suspended.
"They will do their time in the county (jail)," Assistant District Attorney Tim Burson said.
Ronnie Morris |
McGinnis' twin brother, Colby, also faces kidnapping and assault and battery charges in connection with the bizarre attack, did not appear in court. Burson said the "other twin" is expected to enter a guilty plea to the charges he faces in October. He currently remains detained at the Carter County Detention Center pending the posting of a $25,000 bond and his court appearance.
The three men were aided July 25 by Rolanda Braxton, 29, who hit the victim in the head with a pipe in the 1000 block of Isabel Street and then told the trio the victim's whereabouts.
Colby McGinnis (pic from The Ardmoreite, 2 August 2008) |
Morris and the McGinnis brothers arrived at the site of the initial assault and forced the victim to walk with them to a Main Street residence, where they accused him of trying to forge a check.
Police reports indicate the trio gave the victim a choice of brutal retaliations. One of those choices was to be beaten with a studded belt. The victim chose the spanking and was whipped more than 200 times.
He was later treated at the local hospital for injuries sustained from being hit with the pipe as well as the multiple injuries he suffered as a result of the spanking.
Police recovered the weapons used in the attack. No evidence was ever recovered to back up the suspects' claims of an attempted forgery.
Rolanda Braxton (pic from The Ardmoreite, 2 August 2008) |
Braxton appeared in district court Sept. 4 and pleaded guilty to assault and battery. She remains in the county jail serving a sentence similar to the ones Morris and McGinnis received Wednesday.
