The last of five people sentenced in the beating of a Belleville man in March will serve 13 months to 10 years in prison for her role in the incident.
Asia McGaughy pleaded guilty to assault with intent to do bodily harm less than murder and larceny from a person in September. Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Archie Brown Wednesday sentenced her to 13 months to 10 years in prison on both charges.
McGaughy, Katherine and Kristen Bialoruski, Gholam Ghanbari and Robert Freeman all pleaded guilty to charges related to the March 25 attack at the intersection of Textile and Bridge roads in Ypsilanti Township. McGaughy and the Belleville man conversed on Facebook earlier that day and she drove him to the intersection.
McGaughy was working on behalf of Kristen Bialoruski, who said the man stole $3,700 from a safe in her home. McGaughy drove the man to the intersection where Kristen Bialoruski and others were going to confront him about the money. The man was beat in the intersection and had his cash, wallet and phone stolen.
In court Wednesday, McGaughy said she never knew the attack was going to take place and she regretted ever being involved.
“I just wanna say I know I’m not a perfect person and I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but I do think this is the most terrible thing I’ve ever done,” she said, crying.
McGaughy was the last of the five defendants to be sentenced. The rest were all sentenced on Oct. 24. Katherine Bialoruski received one year in jail, credit for six months and 17 days served, for one count of assault with a dangerous weapon. Kristen Bialoruski, Ghanbari and Freeman were all sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for assault with intent to do bodily harm and larceny from a person charges, records show.
The five defendants are all jointly and separately responsible for more than $20,000 in restitution to the victim, records show.
Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Dianna Collins said McGaughy was the least cooperative of the defendants when she was interviewed by police and had the longest criminal history. Even though McGaughy said she didn’t know what was going to happen to the victim, Collins said everyone involved in the incident was aware.
“They all knew exactly what they were going to do,” she said.
“This is the defendant who drove him there,” she added.
Brown said an argument could be made McGaughy was probably the least culpable defendant but her actions were among the deciding factors in the incident taking place.
“You helped put it in motion,” he said.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.