Mother of victim in brutal attack at Athens Golden Pantry testifies in sentencing hearing
The mother of a young woman, who along with her friend were nearly killed when they stopped at a convenience store in Athens, testified Friday in a sentencing hearing for the man who has admitted guilt in the vicious attack.
She described the brutality of the wounds inflicted on her daughter in May 2020 at the Golden Pantry on North Milledge Avenue.
The testimony was heard in Clarke County Superior Court during a sentencing hearing for Eric Keith Mitchell, 40, who earlier pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and aggravated assault against the two women.
Previous coverage: Police: May assault of 2 UGA students at Athens store ’completely unprovoked’
Witness: Man charged in attack on recent UGA grads told police to, ’go ahead and shoot me’
Original story: Police: Two women ’seriously injured’ in attack at Milledge Avenue Golden Pantry
Superior Court Judge Lisa Lott will sentence Mitchell in August after she hears evidence regarding the second victim, whose family was unable to attend this hearing.
What happened at the Golden Pantry in May 2020?
Western Circuit Chief Assistant District Attorney Mikaela Henderson is prosecuting the charges against Mitchell, who attacked the women, then ages 21 and 22, when they stopped about 9 p.m. at the convenience store to purchase some snacks.
Athens-Clarke police said Mitchell was in the store standing near the exit door when without provocation or warning he attacked the women, punching and cutting them with a box cutter.
The mother of the 21-year-old victim from Denver, Colo., who had just graduated UGA, said the lives of the two women were saved only because police officer Stewart Heard was in the parking lot of the nearby Varsity restaurant and heard their screams.
Heard immediately drove to the location and at gunpoint stopped the assault.
Victim's mother testifies about emotional toll of the attack
Prior to the attack, the victim's mother described her daughter as a funny young woman, who loved hiking, skiing, traveling and cooking. She wanted to attend college in the South and after visiting Auburn and Clemson, she fell in love with Athens. Her four years at UGA were the "happiest years of her life," she testified.
But the attack, according to the mother, has created an emotional toil that has changed her personality and outlook on life.
The family, by a request through the DA's office, did not want to be identified in news accounts.
The mother recalled how a telephone call from police in Athens "changed our lives forever."
The parents flew to Athens, where the mother testified she observed the massive injuries to her daughter's face, including bones broken beyond repair, her teeth caved in, eye socket damage and fractures to spinal bones among numerous other injuries.
Seeing the injuries, she said, brought "me to my knees in anguish."
Despites the many surgeries, she said her daughter's face will never be the same.
She told the judge that her daughter does not remember much of the attack, but she does have a memory of lying on the pavement and reaching a point where she believed she would die.
"Pure evil exists and it found her," the mother testified.
She also told the judge she believed that Mitchell intended to kill both women, but she said their lives were saved when officer Heard quickly responded and stopped the savage beating.
Introduced as evidence were photos showing the victim as she happily stood at the Arch on campus after graduation and others showing the massive injuries as she lay in a hospital bed.
Mitchell sat in court beside his attorney Ben Pearlman during the testimony.
The other victim, a 22-year-old from Atlanta, had severe cuts to her abdomen, according to police.
Pearlman said the defense will not offer evidence until the concluding hearing when evidence from the second victim is offered.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens, GA assault case: Victim's mom gives evidence at sentencing
