BEMIDJI-After a man was brutally beaten in Nymore this past fall, one alleged assailant pleaded not guilty and a second has been sentenced to probation.
James Michael Penn, 36, pleaded not guilty on Monday in Beltrami County Court to aiding and abetting third-degree assault. Sean Alan Sills, 24, was sentenced to up to five years of supervised probation.
Penn has a pretrial hearing scheduled for Monday, May 13.
According to the criminal complaint against Penn and Sills, on Sept. 10, Bemidji Police officers were dispatched to the 400 block of Central Avenue SE, where they discovered a man with severe head trauma who witnesses said was assaulted by three to five men who drove away shortly afterward. The victim was bleeding from his mouth and nose. Police said his neck was broken and his skull was fractured.
When they were arrested four days later, Penn allegedly confessed to kicking the victim in the head, and Sills allegedly told a police detective that he punched the victim in the face six times in rapid succession, according to the documents.
