Man pleads guilty to knocking woman out inside justice center

Published 10:37 am Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A 28-year-old Austin man has pleaded guilty to allegedly knocking a woman unconscious last fall inside the Mower County Jail and Justice Center.

Jonathan Talamantes pleaded guilty Monday to felony third-degree assault as part of a plea agreement. Under the agreement, a felony domestic assault charge was dismissed.

Talamantes

Talamantes

According to a court complaint, Talamantes and another man were standing at the jail’s inmate account machine in the foyer at about 8:30 p.m. Aug. 8 when the victim walked into the building.

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Surveillance footage allegedly shows Talamantes walking to the victim, throwing her against a garbage can, slamming her head into the top of the can and punching her face.

The woman was knocked unconscious and Talamentes left the building for a few seconds before he came back and tried to rouse the victim from where she lay on the floor, bleeding heavily from her mouth, according to the court complaint. While she came to, Talamantes allegedly used his shirt and a shirt the victim carried to try and clean up the victim’s blood.

Police were called to the justice center shortly before 11 p.m. after jailers found blood on the foyer floor. They later found the victim near her Austin home, where she told police she received emergency medical attention and suffered a concussion during the assault. The victim had swelling in her left cheek and blood inside her ear, according to the complaint.

Talamantes was already under investigation for domestic assault, according to the complaint. He was previously convicted of second-degree assault in 2006, domestic assault by strangulation in 2010, and fourth-degree assault in 2012.