Jackson City Councilman Andrew Frounfelker will stand trial for assault with intent to do great bodily harm
FOX 47's Alani Letang was in court when his girlfriend testified during his preliminary hearing in district court. She told the judge Frounfelker beat her so badly that she needed to have a metal plate installed in her face.
She relived the night of the incident and events leading up to it Thursday in court.
"I had to have surgery, I had to have two plates put into my face, one's above my eye, and one in my lower cheekbone. I had five fractured bones in my face including my nose," said the girlfriend, accusing Frounfelker of assault.
Andrew Frounfelker's girlfriend said everything started out fine on the night of May 22nd, until they left the restaurant after eating with friends. She told the court he immediately got angry with her. "You don't know what you did, you disrespected me and my coworkers when we tried to do something nice for you," the girlfriend said.
She testified that Frounfelker pulled her up their apartment steps by her hair and that things got worse once they were inside.
The woman explained that Frounfelker, "pushed me at first, then started screaming and hollering at me saying it was over, started hitting me in the eye, kept hitting me and I asked him to stop because it was the first day that I didn't have to wear my glasses or have any marks and it was my birthday."
Kristin Willcut, a friend to the Frounfelker's girlfriend, got a text from the accuser "Andy was acting crazy". that was followed by a picture of her friend's swollen face and a black eye. That's when she headed to the apartment to help.
The girlfriend said, "she started pounding on the door, and my phone kept ringing, and I said Kristin I'm fine, and I thought I hung up the phone but I didn't." Willcut said, "I heard her choking, I heard her gasping for air, I heard her crying, and I heard him say 'I'm going to kill you."
The accuser says Frounfelker stopped hitting her when there was a knock at the door, "and told me not to answer, and I said, Andy, I have to she's in the building, somebody's gonna call the police," said the accuser.
The girlfriend let Willcut inside and within minutes they were on their way to the hospital.
"It was pretty hard to look at her and hear her cry and see her bloody face and the strangle marks around her neck and hear her beg me not to take her," Willcut told Letang after the hearing. The accuser told the court Frounfelker just sat in the living room as they left.
"It just goes to show me the level of manipulation and control he had over her," Willcut said.
Frounfelker did not testify Thursday his lawyer told me he had no comment on the judge's decision.
Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies hinted that Frounfelker will eventually resign. He said the councilman told him he does not want to be a distraction.
We'll let you know when the trial date is set, and we'll continue to keep you updated on this story.
