ASH FLAT -- An Iowa man charged with tying a woman to a cinder block and throwing her into a river in Sharp County has pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic battery, Sharp County Circuit Clerk Tommy Estes said.
Jerry Dean Clark, 45, of Glenwood, Iowa, was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and interference with emergency communication after a woman told police Clark had taken her from a Hardy restaurant to a campsite and then beat her on April 20.
Clark entered the plea Oct. 6 just before he was to be tried in Sharp County, Estes said.
According to a sentencing order filed by Circuit Judge Harold Erwin, Clark pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic battery and received a 10-year sentence in the Arkansas Department of Correction. He also pleaded guilty to terroristic threatening and was given a suspended sentence of seven years in prison.
Sharp County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tom Garner dismissed the charge of interfering with emergency communications.
The woman, who said she was Clark's ex-girlfriend, said Clark struck her in the face several times and then tied her to a cinder block and threw her into the South Fork of the Spring River. She freed herself, but police said Clark then zip-tied her hands to a tree at the campsite and began hitting her with a bottle.
The woman told police she chewed through the ties and freed herself again, later jumping in to the river and swimming to safety.
Clark was arrested April 21 on a driving-while-intoxicated charge in Izard County. He admitted to assaulting the woman after investigators found blood on his clothes and matched his boot to a print found near the South Fork River, authorities said.
State Desk on 10/13/2016