Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A convicted felon, on parole when he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend, was sentenced Friday to one year in the Smith County Jail.

Initially charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Jason Lee Cook, 26, Tyler, was convicted Thursday of misdemeanor assault for an altercation he had with Chaundra Crumpton, his 17-year-old pregnant girlfriend, on Nov. 7, 2006.

The victim claimed Cook beat her, stuck a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she didn't get an abortion.

Cook faced up to life in prison if convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A Smith County jury in 7th District Judge Kerry Russell's court instead found him guilty of the lesser-included misdemeanor charge of assault after less than an hour of deliberation. The jurors sentenced Cook to the maximum one-year jail sentence and a $4,000 fine after less than five minutes of deliberation Friday morning.

Assistant Smith County District Attorney Amanda Dillon said Cook, already a father of three, took the victim over to his house and assaulted her because he didn't want the baby she was carrying.

"If you won't get an abortion, then I'll beat it out of you," the victim reported Cook telling her as he beat her in the stomach, Ms. Dillon said. Cook choked her, slammed her down, pushed her into a door and held a handgun to her head, threatening to kill her if she didn't get an abortion, she told the jurors during closing arguments.

Medical records showed she had bruises and cuts on her face and neck, Ms. Dillon said.

Defense attorney Hunter Brush said no damage was done to the unborn baby and the girl was OK. He said Ms. Crumpton or someone helping her could have caused her injuries.

No one but the victim testified they ever saw Cook with a pistol or saw a gun in his house, including three people who testified for the defendant who had been to his house, he said.

Cook has prior felony convictions of possessing a controlled substance and possessing marijuana, which he pleaded guilty to in 2004 and was on parole for at the time of the assault.