PATRICK E. MALONE, d/o/b 8-26-1970, of Lebanon, Missouri, was sentenced on Thursday, December 20, 2018, in the Circuit Court of Taney County, to thirty-four (34) years in prison for the felony offenses of domestic assault in the first degree, domestic assault in the second degree, and kidnapping. Judge Eric Eighmy ordered Malone to serve consecutive prison sentences of twenty (20) years for domestic assault in the first degree, ten (10) years for domestic assault in the second degree, and four (4) years for kidnapping.

On October 16, 2018, Malone was found guilty by a Taney County jury of the three (3) felonies, following a two-day trial. The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of October 6, 2017, at the Rowland Motel, in Branson, where Malone’s girlfriend was visiting him. At just before 8 a.m. that morning, a patrol officer with the Branson Police Department observed a woman with obvious injuries to her face walking on the roadway. The officer stopped to assist the woman, but she was reluctant to explain how she had received the injuries. Eventually, the woman described how Malone had beaten her face and head with his fists, had kept her from leaving his motel room, and had sat on her neck while she was pinned on the floor. She received medical care at Cox Emergency Department, in Branson. When contacted by Branson Police officers, Malone gave varying stories about what had occurred.

Malone was charged by the Taney County Prosecutor’s Office as a prior and persistent felony offender, due to his history of nine (9) prior felony convictions. At the time of this assault, Malone was on supervised probation in Laclede County for a felony drug case for which he was facing twenty (20) years in prison. Judge Eighmy ordered Malone’s thirty-four (34) year sentence to be served consecutively to the Laclede County sentence.