CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — A Mount Clare man who gouged a neighbor's eyes is headed to prison for 4 to 10 years.

Harrison Chief Judge Christopher J. McCarthy sentenced Eric Michael Cottrill, 44, to that term at the urging of Assistant Prosecutor Gina Renzelli, for the Office of Prosecutor Rachel Romano.

Renzelli and McCarthy cited the violence of this crime, and that Cottrill had been convicted of unlawful assault in a 2019 beatdown of another male in broad daylight at the Nutter Fort Food Lion.

They also noted that Cottrill had about 25 prior misdemeanor convictions.

Cottrill's lawyer, Dayton Meadows, sought an alternative sentence, suggesting the defendant's mental health had played a large role in his criminal history.

Meadows, and Cottrill, also believed that after spending ove

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