A Durango man who nearly beat another man to death in a late-night bar fight was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.
Hakim Antoin Reddy, 38, looked teary-eyed as he hugged family members before being handcuffed and taken to jail. He was free on bail pending Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Reddy was facing five to 16 years in prison after a jury convicted him Aug. 17 of felony assault.
The assault occurred about 1:30 a.m. June 13, 2015, in the 100 block of west College Drive, near the Durango Smoke Shop.
According to testimony during the three-day trial, Reddy was celebrating his 37th birthday with his older brother, Badi Reddy, at Orio’s Roadhouse and the Wild Horse Saloon.
As the bars were closing, his brother, who is smaller in size, left the Wild Horse Saloon with the hopes of escorting a woman to her car. But the woman was accompanied by two men who physically blocked him from tagging along.
Feeling slighted, Badi Reddy walked back to the bar and informed his brother of what happened.
Hakim Reddy, who admitted to consuming the equivalent of a 12-pack of beer, walked toward the men, saying, “Do you guys want some?”
Testifying in his own defense, Hakim Reddy said he wanted to have a conversation and possibly engage in some “chest bumping,” but he had no intention of fighting.
He said the men turned around and walked toward him, one with his fist raised in the air. So Hakim Reddy head-butted him and punched him, quickly knocking him out. The second man jumped on his back, so he also punched him.
Natalie Miller, who witnessed the assault, said Hakim Reddy ambushed the two men, and they did nothing to provoke an altercation.
He left them bloodied on the sidewalk before going to Denny’s for coffee, according to testimony. He never notified police about what happened, but police caught up with him the next week at the Wild Horse Saloon.
Warren Madden, one of the victims, was airlifted to San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington with a skull fracture, several broken bones in his face and a hemorrhage in his brain, according to an arrest affidavit.
Assistant District Attorney Christian Champagne said Madden’s life has changed irrevocably as a result of the assault. He has about $500,000 in medical bills, which he plans to seek at a restitution hearing scheduled for Dec. 7.
Champagne said Reddy’s actions went way too far, and nearly killed a man.
“His (Madden’s) life will never be the same, and his quality of life will never be the same, and that’s directly related to the actions of Mr. Reddy that night,” Champagne said.
Durango defense lawyer Katharine Whitney said this wasn’t a random act of violence, as some have made it out to be. There were circumstances leading up to the fight, and Reddy in no way intended to inflict the level of injuries that he did. She called it an accident fueled by alcohol.
He will pay for it emotionally for the rest of his life, Whitney said.
“He’s a good guy that made a mistake that night,” she said.
shane@durangoherald.com
