Man Pleads Guilty to Beating Another Man at St. Cloud Shelter
FOLEY (WJON News) -- A man staying at a St. Cloud homeless shelter last November has pleaded guilty to attacking another man and beating him unconscious.
Twenty-nine-year-old Marlon Whittaker has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of 3rd degree assault.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Benton County, police were called to the Salvation Army Shelter on November 19th for an assault.
Officers say they arrived to find Whittaker stomping and punching the head of an unconscious man. Court records show the victim was bleeding profusely from his head with a large pool of blood forming. He was taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment.
In witness interviews and surveillance video, Whittaker is accused of approaching the victim and immediately starting to punch him. The two exchanged swings until the victim fell to the ground. Whittaker then allegedly struck the victim with a wooden chair several times before another person pulled him off the victim.
When the victim got up and began heading to the main door, Whittaker ran after him and punched him until the victim fell to the ground. Court records say the video then shows Whittaker punching and stomping the man's head and torso as many as 18 times as the man lay motionless.
Whittaker said the victim was holding a knife with the blade toward him, but a staff member says the victim was using the knife to repair a vacuum cleaner and was not threatening anyone with it.
Whittaker will be sentenced on April 3rd.
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