CASPER, Wyo. — A Riverton resident pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge stemming from a prolonged attack on a man sitting on the ground near the Nicolaysen Art Museum in April.
Dustin Big Medicine, 44, admitted to aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon before Judge Kerri Johnson. According to Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson, the state has agreed to seek a maximum sentence of nine years. The maximum charge is ten years.
The Casper Police Department investigators obtained security footage from the NIC that captured the April 21 battery. According to the affidavit, Big Medicine is seen arguing with his girlfriend shortly after 2 p.m., and a man sitting on the ground appears to be speaking to them.
The victim, a 50-year-old man, later told police that he told them to stop before the police arrived. At that point, Big Medicine kicked the sitting man in the face before repeatedly punching and kicking him in the face and body.
As the man attempted to crawl away, Big Medicine dragged him by the ankles to a ring of landscaping boulders, lifted his head by grabbing his shirt, and slammed it twice into the rocks.
The video appears to show Big Medicine standing up and kicking the man in the ribs three more times before walking away.
When the victim was discovered on 2nd Street nearby, medical personnel called police about two hours later. Officers followed a trail of blood back to the crime scene.
The man reportedly suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket, and chipped facial bone. Police discovered him sitting at the crime scene the next day after he was released from the hospital.
He stated that he had an appointment with a specialist the next day to determine whether or not his eye would need to be removed.
The state accused Big Medicine of using the rocks as a deadly weapon.
The next day, Big Medicine was discovered at a bus stop near the crime scene and arrested. He is still in custody on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.
At his initial court appearance on April 23, Big Medicine stated that he was originally from Riverton and had recently moved to Casper with his girlfriend. He had been arrested several times for public intoxication and pedestrian under the influence.
He told Judge Cynthia Sweet that he had recently started working as a groundskeeper at the country club and had briefly remained sober before having “a little slip-up.”
