By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Payne County jury, which convicted a Perry man on Wednesday of abusing his then-wife while she was holding their daughter in Stillwater, has recommended he be incarcerated for 36 months and fined $1,000, court records show.
Eric Donald Rodebush, 34, remains free on bond pending his Jan. 14, 2022, sentencing before Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley, who ordered a background report of Rodebush. The judge also ordered Rodebush to have no contact with the victim except for visitation of their child.
According to Noble County court records, Rodebush had pleaded no contest to two earlier misdemeanor charges of domestic assault and battery, one occurring in 2015 and the other in 2016, for which he was placed on two years’ probation under deferred sentences in 2016.
Stillwater Police Officer Josh Rudluff had been sent shortly before 8 pm on Feb. 29, 2020, to a Stillwater house where a man “stated his friend just beat up his wife,” an affidavit said.
“As I was walking toward the kitchen, I noticed a large fresh blood stain on the carpet just before entering the kitchen,” where he saw that the victim “had a very large knot on the right side of her forehead,” the Stillwater officer wrote in an affidavit.
“Her right eye was black and swollen. She was still bleeding from a couple small lacerations she had on her face. She stated the attack happened over an hour ago,” the affidavit said.
“She also had bruising on her right arm on the lower part of her bicep. It looked like bruising consistent with someone grabbing her arm very hard,” the affidavit said.
The victim, who filed for divorce a week later, said she was in the kitchen with her daughter sitting on the counter, while she was helping fix dinner at 6:15 pm, but when she turned around for a minute, her daughter fell off the counter, so she picked her up and began to comfort her, the affidavit said.
The victim said she thought her daughter fell on her bottom and was not injured, but her then-husband began trying to take her daughter away from her, the affidavit said.
The victim said her then-husband started saying derogatory things to her, so she yelled at him to get away and left the kitchen, the affidavit said.
In the living room, her then-husband continued to grab her and try to take her daughter away, the affidavit said.
His friend saw Rodebush’s two boys and decided to take them out of the room, the affidavit said.
“While he was walking outside, he told Eric (Rodebush) that he needed to stop and cool down,” but while the friend and boys were outside, Rodebush became physical toward his wife, the affidavit said.
The victim said that while he had a hold of her, “she lightly slapped him to try to get him to go away,” the affidavit said.
While she was holding their daughter, Rodebush used a closed fist and punched his then-wife above the right eye, the affidavit said.
She said “it knocked her back and he used another closed fist and punched her just below her right eye,” the affidavit said.
She said she closed her eyes, fell down, and as she was on the ground, her husband punched her on the top of her head, the affidavit said.
“She stated during the attack she may have scratched him in the face. (She) also said at some point, Eric pulled a bunch of her hair out, but she doesn’t know when that occurred,” the affidavit said.
Rodebush was contacted at about 12:15 am on March 1, 2020, at his Perry residence by the Noble County undersheriff, who turned him over to Stillwater police at Highway 51 and Highway 86, the affidavit said.
When the Stillwater officer asked Rodebush what happened, “He stated he didn’t really know. He stated he had been drinking and things escalated when they shouldn’t have,” the affidavit said. Rodebush “had a few scratches on the left side of his face,” the affidavit said.
Domestic violence as a subsequent offense carries up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine on conviction, court records show.
