BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - A Dexter man charged for his role in an officer assault at Dexter in 2011 has been given a four-year suspended sentence.
Terry Mace was arrested in September 2011, and was charged with the Class C felony of second degree assault. He has since been at the Stoddard County Jail facing a $250,000 bond.
He appeared in court Thursday afternoon for his sentencing hearing.
Because his sentence was suspended, he will not go to prison. He will serve five years of supervised probation and, if he stays out of trouble, will be free. A violation, however, would mean he has to serve the four years in prison.
In March, Mace pled guilty to the Class D felony of resisting arrest before Presiding Circuit Judge Stephen Sharp.
The amended information filed the day of his plea alleges on Sept. 12, 2011, Kevin Moore, a law enforcement officer, was making an arrest of Mace for second-degree assault, and Mace "reasonably should have known that the officer was making an arrest," and for the purpose of preventing Moore from making the arrest, resisted arrest "by using or threatening the use of violence or physical force."
His 21-year-old son, Austin Mace, pled guilty in Dec. 2011 and was immediately sentenced to seven years in prison.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in Stoddard County court by Det. Cory Mills, at 7:31 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2011. Moore and Lt. Larry Patterson responded to a fight in progress on the lot west of McDonald's. Moore arrived shortly before Patterson and found a large crowd of people gathered watching a fight between Aaron Mace, Austin Mace and Terry Mace.
Moore then reportedly ordered Terry Mace, father of the other two, to stop fighting. It was at this point that Moore was reportedly shoved by Terry Mace. Moore then fired his tazer at the senior Mace and he fell to the ground.
As Lt. Patterson began approaching Mace in an attempt to handcuff him, he witnessed Austin Mace rushing from the crowd with both fists doubled up "swinging wildly" at Moore. Moore, who did not see him coming, was punched in the left side of his face with a closed fist. The punch reportedly left Moore unconscious before he fell and struck the edge of a concrete sidewalk with the other side of his face.
Patterson immediately placed Austin Mace in custody before directing his attention to Moore who was unresponsive and bleeding from the right side of his face.
EMS arrived shortly after and transported Moore to Missouri Southern Healthcare where he was stabilized before being airlifted to St. Louis University Hospital.
During an interview with Mills, Austin Mace reportedly admitted to striking Moore. He went on to explain that the fight stemmed from an incident involving money stolen the night before. When he saw the officer tazer his father, Austin Mace said he ran to protect him and struck Moore. He said he then "blacked-out". In a statement to police, Austin Mace admitted to having difficulty controlling his anger.
Austin Mace wrote a letter to officer Moore following the incident apologizing and asking for his forgiveness, stating that he realized Moore was only doing his job.
Moore was released from the hospital and has since returned to duty, although the officer remains under the care of a physician from complications resulting from the incident.