Man pleads guilty in deadly assault outside Springfield nightclub

A man pleaded guilty to manslaughter Friday for a January 2022 altercation outside of a Springfield nightclub that left one person with injuries that were eventually fatal.

Jasmin Hopkins, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree involuntary manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Jeffrey Brent.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Greene County prosecutors will cap their recommendation for prison time at 8 years. A sentencing hearing has been set for April 14.

Police say Hopkins and Brent were involved in an altercation at about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2022 outside of Rumors Cabaret on Glenstone Avenue. Hopkins punched Brent in the face, causing Brent to fall and hit his head on the ground. Brent was taken to the hospital where he died three weeks later.

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Court documents say Brent and Hopkins knew one another from a previous encounter. Witnesses told police that Brent — a bartender at Georgia Mac's in Springfield — had kicked Hopkins out of that establishment after Hopkins was involved in an altercation there.

Court documents say that when Brent and Hopkins saw one another at Rumors, there was no altercation inside the club, but there was an argument once they got outside that eventually led to the punch.

The Springfield Police Department detective who wrote the report in this case said he reviewed surveillance footage from a nearby business and "did not observe any actions made by Brent which would make punching him justifiable."

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Man pleads guilty in manslaughter case outside Springfield nightclub