Man gets lesser sentence in hammer attack

An Iowa man will serve a suspended three-year prison sentence in a plea deal after being accused of seriously injuring another man in a hammer attack in February in Logan.

Prosecutors offered a plea deal to the suspect on a less-serious charge after a Texas judge failed to sign a search warrant used in the investigation, thus hampering the case.

Arthur Raymond Peppers, 65, of Donahue, Iowa, pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated battery (great bodily harm) during a Tucumcari district court hearing on Thursday.

Peppers initially was charged with attempted first-degree murder after being accused of severely beating Justin Ramsey with a hammer at a car wash in Logan.

The prosecutor recommended the plea deal after finding a Texas judge had apparently failed to sign the search warrant involved in the case.

Peppers was apprehended in Dalhart, Texas, and extradited back to New Mexico.

Ramsey, unconscious after the attack and found in a pool of blood at the car wash, was taken to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, in critical condition for injuries that included a fractured skull.

According to court documents, District Judge Drew Tatum also sentenced Peppers to two years of parole.

Peppers received 271 days of jail credit, with the rest of the sentence of two years and 94 days suspended. Peppers will be placed under the supervision of the probation and parole division of the New Mexico Department of Corrections.

He must undergo mental health screening and complete any recommended counseling. He must also compete an alcohol or substance-abuse screening program or counseling.

Peppers’ probation may be transferred to his home state of Iowa or any other state of residence. He must also submit a DNA sample to the state corrections department..

Another charge of tampering with evidence was dismissed under the plea deal.

According to a transcript of the hearing, District Attorney Timothy Rose said family members said Ramsey was “not doing well.” He still was receiving treatment for his injuries and “is not expected to ever recover 100%.”

Rose said Ramsey is being cared for by his sister. His mother and a victim’s advocate decided to not advise him of the court hearing because he has “limited memory.”

Tatum told Peppers he would be responsible for any restitution, as determined by the adult probation office, for treatment of Ramsey’s injuries.

Peppers did not speak, other than to answer questions from the judge.

Peppers had no previous convictions, according to court documents.

Rose said his office had three primary sources of evidence — the crime scene, testimony from hitchhiker William Rice, who saw the attack, and Peppers’ testimony.

Rose said his office was unable to find Rice, who reportedly had ties with an indigenous tribe in Alamogordo.

In an initial interview with state police, Rice said he was walking along U.S. 70 near Mescalero when Peppers and Ramsey picked him up in an RV.

Rice said hours later he awoke to see Peppers attacking Ramsey with a hammer. He later fled from the RV and notified police.

During a police interview in Dalhart, Peppers said he attacked Ramsey with a 3-pound hammer as he slept, dragged him out of the RV and left him on the ground at the Logan car wash.

“When asked why he hit him in the head, Arthur Peppers stated it was to send him to a better place, then further clarified it was to send him to heaven,” the police affidavit stated. “This implied Arthur Peppers understood his actions were to kill Justin Ramsey.”

Rose said most importantly in the prosecution’s case, a search warrant issued for the RV was not correctly signed by a Texas judge. Rose said the judge signed an affidavit but not the warrant itself, which could not be located.

Court documents did not identify the judge. Rose, when contacted by email Monday, said he didn’t have that information.

Rose said that lack of a judge’s signature on the document left the prosecution “at a weak standpoint.”

Peppers’ attorney, Roger Bargas of Tucumcari, would have filed motions to suppress that evidence from being used in the case, Rose said.

Bargas agreed with Rose’s account of the prosecution’s evidentiary problems.

Tatum said he appreciated the explanation for the plea agreement, describing the attack as “a very violent incident, and the victim is suffering lifelong for it.”

The judge ruled the plea was “reasonable” and would accept its terms.

Rose in an email Monday said his office deals with “a challenging tightrope” with the pursuit of justice and the limitations of admissible evidence.

“In extremely violent cases like this, it is disheartening when you realize that the flame of accountability and justice is being extinguished by the absence of the very evidence that should sustain it,” Rose wrote. “The plea entered in this case secured a felony conviction and supervision by the Department of Corrections. While it does not sit well with me, it was certainly better than the alternative of a full acquittal at trial due to insufficient proof.”