By JOSH COTTON

jcotton@timesobserver.com

A Spring Creek man was sentenced to five years in state prison for an assault that left another person unconscious and caused him to fall into a fire.

Jordan D. Cooke, 32, was sentenced by Judge Gregory Hammond Friday morning.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Cooke and about 13 other people were at a party early in the morning of Jan. 31, 2021, at a Jackson Run Road residence. The alleged victim reported that he was standing near a fire talking at about 1 a.m. when he was struck on the right side of his jaw.

He “awoke as he was lying on the ground next to the fire with his clothes singed and a sore jaw,” according to the affidavit. He said he “began spitting large quantities of blood” when he stood up.

Other witnesses told police that Cooke had approached the victim from behind and punched him in the jaw, according to the affidavit.

The victim said he had not met Cooke before that date and that he had spoken with him in a “friendly manner” at the party, according to the affidavit. He “was dumbfounded as to why Cooke assaulted him.”

A witness, who told police he attempted to hold off Cooke, told police that Cooke “yelled something to the extent of ‘That’s what you get for talking to my old lady,'” the affidavit states.

Assistant Public Defender Francis Waweru said his client is apologetic for the incident and “remorseful for his conduct.”

Waweru said Cooke knows he is going to state prison and is “more than willing to pay the restitution.”

District Attorney Rob Greene said he’d never question someone’s Constitutional right to take a case to trial but said Cooke is only taking responsibility “after the jury found him guilty on all counts.”

Greene was critical of Cooke’s defense, which he claimed tried to turn the case into a matter of race with witness testimony that was “pathetic.”

“Mr. Cooke is not a small man,” Greene said. “(He) knows what violence is and continues to use violence as a coping mechanism or solution.”

Cooke declined to comment.

Hammond called Cooke’s attack a “sucker punch.”

He stressed he would never increase a person’s sentence for taking a case to trial but was critical of the defense offered which was “intended to disparage the victim.

Hammond sentenced Cooke to 60 months to 120 months incarceration in state prison with credit for 56 days time served, $52,298.31 in restitution, $625 in fees, a no contact/no trespass order and submission of a DNA sample on a count of aggravated assault.

Hammond said a count of simple assault merged for sentencing purposes and that he would impose no additional punishment on charges of harassment and disorderly conduct. Given the length of the assessment, a mandatory 12 months of reentry supervision was also ordered.