BEDFORD – On Monday, 30-year-old Samuel Payton pleaded guilty in a negotiated plea deal to a charge of domestic battery in Lawrence County Superior Court I.
Charges of domestic battery in violation of a protective order and invasion of privacy were dismissed.
Judge John Plummer III sentenced Payton to two years and 182 days in the Indiana Department of Corrections. He was given credit for 90 days served. Judge Plummer then suspended 732 days to supervised probation.
Payton was arrested on a warrant after an incident on August 28, 2022, at 5:31 p.m. Lawrence County Central Dispatch received a call reporting a domestic battery. The woman who was injured had fled the home and was waiting to speak to an officer at a nearby church on SandPit Road.
The woman said Payton had pushed her and put his hands around her neck. She told police she and Payton were attempting to work things out in their relationship.
Payton was angered that the woman forgot to bring a Cricut device. Payton then took several ultrasound photos of the woman’s unborn baby from inside her vehicle and refused to give them back to her. Payton also proceeded to light one of the photos on fire with a lighter. Payton then went inside a shed on the property. When the woman attempted to follow him inside, he closed the door. Eventually, Payton opened the door to the shed where he grabbed her by the neck, pushed her, and told her to leave. Police noted there was a slight red mark in the middle of the woman’s neck.
She says Payton made attempts to apologize by hugging her when she threatened to call the police. The woman told Payton to get off of her and he then punched her in the stomach and fled into a nearby field.
The woman signed a battery affidavit.
Officers then went to Payton’s home on SandPit Road where Payton claimed he never touched the woman.
He claimed that he was asleep in the shed when the woman arrived and the door was locked. When the woman attempted to open the door, he got out of bed and unlocked the door. He told her she needed to leave, not come back and shut the door because there was a protective order in place. He stated the woman continued to try to open the door.
She then took a pressure washer that was sitting next to the shed and put it in her car. She told Payton he could explain what happened to the pressure washer and then threw it out of her vehicle. She then got in her car and drove away to later return. Payton claimed he never touched the woman but did get loud with her
A second woman at the home told police that the woman and Payton have an “on and off again” relationship and that the woman has in the past accused Payton of stalking her. She stated the woman had filed for a protective order but continues to make contact with Payton by phone or by coming to the residence. The woman told police she was inside the home and saw no altercation. A male witness who was also in the home told police he believed the woman was making up the story because she “didn’t get her way”.
