Prison time for man who battered elderly relatives

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Robert Wayne Hadley, charged with attacking his elderly mother and stepfather with a bat after he was refused a $5 loan to buy a knife, pled guilty to charges filed against him stemming from the incident and was given five years in prison.

The plea came during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

Baxter County sheriff’s deputies responded to a home along Walnut Lane in Cotter May 12th, after a report of a violent domestic altercation was received.

It was reported the 48-year-old Hadley had become enraged after being turned down for the loan and struck his 76-year-old stepfather in the head and right hand with a baseball bat. He also injured his 65-year-old mother as she attempted to wrestle the bat away from her son.

A neighbor came to the home and was able to take control of the bat preventing Hadley from continuing the attack on his relatives.

Deputies reported Hadley’s stepfather suffered three fractures to his left cheek, a laceration to the back of his head requiring stitches, and an open fracture to his ring finger on the right hand — all caused by blows from the bat.

His mother suffered injuries to her left arm, elbow, left thumb and right knee. She had scratches and bruising to her neck allegedly caused by Hadley’s attempt to choke her.

Hadley fled the residence before deputies arrived. A search warrant served on a communications provider led lawmen to a residence in Marion County. Lawmen from several agencies converged on the house located along Marion County Road 7032, found Hadley and took him into custody.

Hadley was initially booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on two counts of first-degree battery. He is serving time in the North Central Unit of the state prison system in Calico Rock on an earlier conviction.

At the time of his arrest, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office reported Hadley had been booked into the local jail 21 times since 2000, primarily on drug and alcohol charges.

When handing down the sentence, Judge John Putman first ordered Hadley not to have contact with the two victims. However, at the request of the mother, the no contact order was lifted allowing her to visit her son. Public Defender Andrew Bailey reported to the court the mother desired to stay in communication with Hadley. Bailey said the mother had visited him during the time he has been housed in the prison at Calico Rock.

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