Notes:

* Timothy Alan Brasfield was fined $221 for stealing, second offense. Hannibal, Missouri 1/13/1998 ******************** * Timothy Brasfield, charged with unlawful use of a weapon. He waived a preliminary hearing and was bound over to Circuit Court for arraignment March 6. Hannibal, Missouri 3/17/00 ********************** Web posted Tuesday, May 9, 2000 Current charge carries possible life sentence By BEV DARR Courier-Post Staff Writer bdarr@courierpost.com Although the victim, Timothy Brasfield, has died in an assault case being investigated by the Hannibal Police Department (HPD), the first-degree assault charge against the defendant may remain, according to the police department. Mr. Brasfield, 21, of Hannibal, died Thursday, five days after being hospitalized. James Paul Holman, 23, of Hannibal, is charged with first-degree assault for the incident. His next scheduled court appearance is a preliminary hearing at 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 22. He is in Marion County Jail in Palmyra, with bond set at $100,000. Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Redington has explained that he will make a decision about filing any new charges after receiving the specific cause of death from the autopsy report. The incident is continuing to be investigated by the HPD, where Lt. Joe Hunold, head of the detective division, explained that the current charge against Holman may not be changed, because its conviction carries the maximum penalty for any crime in Missouri, short of first-degree murder. The possible penalties for conviction of a Class A felony of first-degree assault are 10 to 30 years in prison, life in prison, and/or a $10,000 fine. Noting it will be the prosecuting attorney's decision whether to change the assault charge, Hunold explained that if it were amended to a murder charge, it could be a Class B charge of voluntary manslaughter, which would carry a lesser penalty. Class B felonies carry a possible penalty of five to 15 years in prison. Another choice, involuntary manslaughter, carries a maximum penalty of seven years, Hunold said. "If you leave it at first-degree assault, he is looking at probably the maximum penalty that can be invoked on any crime (except first-degree murder), as far as how much time you can serve in prison," Hunold said. Second-degree murder also is a Class A felony, he said, but "an assault charge is easier to prove than a murder charge would be." Mr. Brasfield died at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Ill. He had been on life support prior to his death, according to the police. An autopsy was performed in Illinois, and the autopsy report will be given to the HPD. An inquest will be scheduled later in May in Quincy, according to Adams County, Ill., Coroner Gary Hamilton. Hunold said Hannibal police officers will testify at the autopsy. The HPD was informed of the assault shortly after noon on April 29, when Mr. Brasfield reported he had been injured with a baseball bat while he was at Travelodge, 500 Mark Twain Ave. He refused medical treatment and also refused to cooperate with the police and file charges against anyone, according to the police report. After being found to have outstanding Ralls County warrants, Mr. Brasfield was transported by Ralls County officers to the Marion County Jail in Palmyra, which also is used by Ralls County. The warrants were related to a traffic charge for which he had a commitment order to serve a few days in jail, according to the police. After being taken to the jail, Mr. Brasfield seemed to be fine, according to Marion County Sheriff Dan Campbell, who reported the victim was talking to people, making phone calls and eating meals. However, a few hours later Mr. Brasfield became disoriented and wasn't coherent, so he was taken to the hospital by ambulance, Campbell said. The assault investigation began April 29, Hunold said, and since then six or seven people have been interviewed by the HPD detective division. Hunold said the incident involved a fight. He emphasized that although six people were at the scene of the assault, "that does not mean they were involved in the altercation." He added that, "we have all the people interviewed we need to interview at the moment, and we have a few more people we want to talk to. Other than that we are pretty much done with the case."


Buried:
Mount Olivet Cemetery

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