Military vet pleads guilty to domestic maiming charge

A military veteran indicted in connection with two separate attacks on his girlfriend inside the Providence Forge home they shared has pleaded guilty to one count of felony domestic maiming.

A second maiming count lodged against Jeffrey David Ross, 32, of the 3000 block of Lower Mountain Road in Sanborn, N.Y., was dropped during a Dec. 6 trial in New Kent Circuit Court. Ross, however, pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor violation of a protective order.

According to commonwealth’s attorney Linwood Gregory, sheriff’s deputies responded in October 2012 to a domestic disturbance call at the couple’s residence. At that time, the girlfriend alerted deputies to the attacks, which had occurred earlier that year on April 20 and July 21.

The maiming count stemming from the April 20 incident was dropped, said Clay Blanton, who prosecuted the case.

As for the July 21 incident, Blanton said the girlfriend told investigators she approached Ross that day about ending their relationship. Ross, she said, struck her three times in the face. When she fell to the floor taking a defensive posture in the fetal position, she claimed Ross kicked her.

“She suffered a broken nose and broken orbital,” Blanton said. “She had reconstructive surgery is looking at more reconstructive surgery.”

The protective order violation charge resulted from Ross repeatedly sending text messages to the girlfriend last February in an effort to rekindle the relationship, Blanton said.

The prosecutor said the victim’s medical treatment, locating the defendant, and a change in defense attorneys accounted for the delay in the case going to trial. Ross, he said, had left the area for New York State. The defendant eventually surrendered to authorities in New Kent last June and has been held in jail since his arrest.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 3 at which time Ross could receive from five to 20 years on the maiming charge. Blanton, however, said the state’s sentencing guidelines for the case recommend a prison sentence in the range of one year, nine months to five years. Also, Ross could receive up to 12 months in jail for violating the protective order.

Blanton said Ross suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from tours of duty with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“He apparently had some problems over there,” the prosecutor added.

No agreement has been reached as to sentencing, Blanton said. Ross remains in jail until the sentencing date.