Oklahoma man to stand trial in Webb City assault case

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

May 7—An Oklahoma man will stand trial on charges he jumped another man outside a Webb City bar and severely beat him with a beer mug or whiskey glass.

The victim of the beating, Levi Farmer, of Joplin, testified Thursday at a preliminary hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court that he was attacked from behind Sept. 4 outside the 66 Sports Bar & Restaurant.

"I heard three steps real quick and got hit over the head with a whiskey glass," Farmer told the court.

His assailant just kept hitting him in the face with the broken glass after he went down, leaving him with a tooth knocked out and some "really bad facial lacerations" that required about 100 stitches to close, Farmer said.

He testified that the assault came on the heels of a confrontation inside the bar that he tried to avoid with defendant Kevin W. Buff, 31, of Claremore, Oklahoma.

"Did you see who hit you?" Buff's attorney Brian Glades asked on cross-examination.

"Uh, no," Farmer admitted.

His testimony proved sufficient nonetheless to convince Associate Judge Joe Hensley that there was probable cause for Buff to stand trial on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. The judge set Buff's initial appearance in a trial division of the court for June 9.

Farmer said he'd gone to the bar with five women and a male friend and went into the men's room after a beer or two. When he came back to their table, Buff, who had come in with a party of four other men and two women and with whom Farmer was not acquainted, was sitting at their table.

He said he reached down to the table to get a cigarette he had left going in an ashtray, and Buff told him to get the cigarette away from him. He said he went to the bar at that point and a short time later sent a text message asking a friend to come get him.

He said he went outside to meet his ride and that Buff and his four male friends followed him out. Buff asked if he was leaving and he told him he was, he said. He turned his back on him at that point to go to his friend's vehicle and he was attacked, he told the court.

A probable-cause affidavit filed by Webb City police alleges that a beer mug was used in the assault, although the victim indicated during his testimony that he believed it was a whiskey glass.