A man was sentenced to prison Tuesday morning after beating a woman 50 times in the face while she was sleeping.
Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Connolly sentenced 34-year-old Michael Andrews, of Rapid City, to eight years in prison with one suspended for aggravated assault with indifference to human life and two concurrent years for aiding and abetting property damage in another case.
Andrews assaulted the woman in August 2024. A month before that, he was charged with second-degree burglary for breaking into a different victim’s RV and taking several items.
Per the plea agreement with the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office, Andrews pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and to a reduced charge of aiding and abetting in intentional property damage valued between $1,000 and $2,500.
In exchange, the state agreed to dismiss three misdemeanor charges Andrews picked up in other cases and recommend the judge run the aggravated assault sentence and the property damage charge concurrent to each other, which Connolly honored.
Senior Deputy State's Attorney George Grassby said Andrews punched and stomped the woman’s face 50 times while she was asleep because she "slept on his spot."
Grassby requested the court to consider 10 years for the aggravated assault and two years for the property damage.
Defense attorney Paul Brankin argued that 10 years is excessive as it would be more beneficial for Andrews to tackle his years of alcohol abuse through treatment rather than in prison. Brankin requested the court to consider a lesser sentence or even a probationary sentence.
Before announcing the sentence, Connolly said this is one of the “higher-end” cases he’s ever sentenced.
