A parolee who attacked his girlfriend and her sister last year, beating both of them with his cane and fracturing the sister's skull, pleaded guilty Monday in Garland County Circuit Court.
William Maxfield Harris, 58, of Hot Springs who was set to stand trial May 1, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and was sentenced to five years in prison, with the entire sentence suspended, while an additional felony count of second-degree domestic battery was withdrawn.
Harris, who was on parole from a 2007 conviction in Pulaski County for possession of a controlled substance, meth, and manufacture of a controlled substance, was also fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $170 in court costs. A court order barring him from contact with the victims was also issued.
Harris remained in custody Wednesday on a parole hold.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on July 18, 2018, around 3 a.m. Hot Springs police officers were flagged down in the 300 block of McClendon Street in reference to a battery.
Officers made contact with a woman, 34, who said her live-in boyfriend, Harris, had beaten her and her sister, 38, after she and he got into an argument about her trying to leave the residence.
She said the argument became physical when she told him her sister was coming to pick her up. She said he punched her in the nose and bit her on the left shoulder and then continued hitting her. She said he used his walking cane to hit her about four times in the back of her head, causing a laceration, and knocking her out at one point.
When she woke up, her sister had arrived at the residence and the altercation continued. Harris pulled a knife on her at one point and attempted to stab her, cutting her on the right forearm. She said her sister got in between them trying to stop the altercation and he hit her sister in the head with his cane hard enough to knock her out for several minutes and caused a large knot to form on the right side of her head.
When her sister woke up they were both able to exit the residence and flag down police.
Both women were transported to National Park Medical Center where the girlfriend received several staples for the laceration on her head and was released. Her sister reportedly suffered a skull fracture and a brain bleed that required brain surgery on July 19.
Harris was arrested on Aug. 15, 2018, and held on $25,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Oct. 22, 2018, and had remained in custody since then.