Man gets probation in beating

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 | 8:25 a.m.

A judge on Tuesday told a 21-year-old man that punching and kicking a man he found sleeping in his car wasn't an example of "how you take care of things" as she sentenced him to five years' probation.

Jose Marbo had chased Willborne Trammel, 32, out of his 1986 Isuzu several times before the violent confrontation June 7, 2004, on West Boston Avenue, according to police.

After the beating Trammel was placed on life support at University Medical Center where he was said to be paralyzed on the left side of his body, had a tracheotomy to assist his breathing and suffered a renal failure that required him to be put on dialysis.

Trammel is still coping with medical problems stemming from the attack, but is no longer hospitalized.

District Judge Jackie Glass gave Marbo a suspended sentence of two to five years in prison and ordered him to pay over $600,000 in restitution. Glass said it was fortunate Marbo's case was resolved the way it was or he "could have been sitting back in prison."

As part of Marbo's five-year probation, Glass ordered him to undergo impulse control counseling.

If not for Marbo's voluntary statement to Metro Police detectives, he may never have been charged with the crime. Although police officers found Trammel's body in the proximity of Marbo's car and impounded the vehicle, investigators were been unable to locate any witnesses to Trammel's beating.

At Marbo's preliminary hearing in August 2004, Metro Detective Michael Hnatuick testified that Marbo wasn't considered a suspect until a July 10, 2004, interview in which Marbo admitted he hit a black man around the same date that Trammel was discovered and taken to the hospital.

Marbo said he had "chased off the black male a handful of times over the course of three months." On the night of the incident, however, Marbo said he did more than chase Trammell away, according to Hnatuick.

After finding Trammel in his car again the night of the incident, Marbo told the detective, he demanded Trammel get out. Marbo said Trammel got out and spit in Marbo's face after Marbo refused to let Trammel retrieve an item in the car.