Though the judge wanted a far stiffer sentence in a case he called appalling, a man who admitted to pushing his mother down their basement stairs was sentenced Monday to about four months in jail and a five-year probation term.
Clay County District Court Judge Steven Cahill had made it crystal clear he wanted to give a stint in prison to 57-year-old Michael Ray Mertz.
After Mertz's guilty plea to third-degree domestic assault this summer, Cahill rejected as too lenient the same plea deal he accepted on Monday.
Cahill said Monday the case was one of the worst he'd seen in 4½ years on the bench, but state sentencing guidelines tied his hands due to Mertz's clean criminal record.
"I just can't imagine how a son could do that to a mother, no matter how mad he is," Cahill said. "I truly hope that what happened is not really what you're all about."
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Just prior to the April 14 attack, Mertz's 82-year-old mother had confronted him about whether he'd been stealing from her. He then pushed her from her rocking chair, choked her and shoved her down the stairs.
He immediately went out to their backyard to bury a stash of $100 bills totaling $36,900, stepping over his mother on the way out.
Mertz was investigated for swindling, but no odd withdrawals were found in his mother's accounts and no charges were filed. He was charged with perjury - a case that's still pending - because he didn't list the cash as an asset when he applied for a public defender to represent him on the assault charge.
His mom, Marlys Mertz, wrote in a victim impact statement that she thought Mertz was going to kill her and that she still has nightmares "from the look in my son's eyes when he came at me to strangle me in my chair." The attack was so traumatic she couldn't live in the house anymore, she wrote in the statement.
On the assault, the state's only option for seeking a longer sentence would be a trial followed by a sentencing jury to determine if his mother was a vulnerable adult - one of the exceptions allowing for a longer-than-guideline sentence.
Clay County Attorney Brian Melton said that was considered, but he is content with the pronounced sentence of one year and one day with 225 days of jail. Mertz got credit for 97 days he's spent in jail.
Cahill said he was worried Mertz would demand an execution of the sentence, which would mean he would serve 366 days in state prison but wouldn't be on probation afterward.
Prosecutors and Mertz's mother have both said they want him to be on probation so he'll be supervised.
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Melton conceded that's a possibility. "There's nothing to stop that from happening," he said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535
