By Nathan Duke
Staff Writer

A Manchester man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to beating a Weare teenager with a baseball bat last summer.

Robert DeLeon, 23, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault on Thursday, March 10. He was ordered to pay $5,500, in restitution to Mark Winter, a 19-year-old Weare high school graduate, whom DeLeon beat with a baseball bat last summer after a fight broke out between their friends.

A feud between the two men's groups of friends began last summer when an acquaintance of Winter's keyed the car of one of DeLeon's friends.

On June 30, the two groups met and tried coming to an agreement for repair costs, but failed to resolve the dispute.

Several hours later, two cars full of DeLeon's friends boxed Winter's car in on South Beech Street. Winter got out of his car with an aluminum baseball bat, which DeLeon took from him and used to beat him.

Winter, who was 18 years old at the time, suffered severe head injuries and was in a medically induced coma for several days after the incident. DeLeon pleaded innocent in September and said he acted in self defense.

DeLeon was on probation for drug possession charges at the time of the beating. Since his arrest, he has served 242 days of jail time. He is eligible for parole in 2008.