UPDATE 11/15 — Hicks is scheduled for a confined docket hearing at 8:15 a.m. Dec. 1 and a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Dec. 8.

UPDATE 11/7 — Hicks is scheduled for a criminal setting at 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 14.

UPDATE 10/24 — Hicks is scheduled for a counsel status hearing at 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 7.

Original story:

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Springfield man has been arrested on suspicion of hitting a woman in the head with a metal pipe Sunday night.

Ray Charles Hicks, 55, of Springfield was arrested Sunday, Oct. 16, in connection to a domestic assault report from around 9 p.m. the same day.

According to a Springfield Police Department report, an officer reported to a home and found a woman lying on the ground, her face covered in blood. She told police that Hicks hit her with a metal pipe. In an ambulance, she told law enforcement that Hicks hit her in the head, but officers couldn’t get more information out of her due to her being hysterical.

Hicks said that the victim was suffering from a UTI and causing a disturbance. He said she fell and hit her head on concrete. After more questioning, Hicks said the victim was swinging the metal pipe at him and he grabbed it. They began fighting over it and she fell, hitting her head, he said.

Hicks said he didn’t think the pipe hit her head but it could have. It was dark outside. He told officers she often attacks him and that though he would never hit her on purpose, he has been mad enough to hit her.

At the hospital, the victim was treated for two lacerations on and around her left ear, scratched on her right forearm, and cuts on the inside of her mouth and lips.

Hicks is formally charged with four felonies: first-degree domestic assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and two counts of armed criminal action. He has not yet been scheduled for a court appearance.

According to the police report, Hicks has an extended criminal history. Missouri court reports show Hicks has previously been charged with:

  • Forgery, four felony counts from 2006 he pleaded guilty to in 2009. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but that was suspended for supervised probation.
  • Possession of chemicals with intent to manufacture, a felony from 2007 he pleaded guilty to in 2013. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but that was suspended for supervised probation.