Parague v. State

Appellant Barrington Parague appeals his convictions of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and felony battery, as well as his sentence and the accompanying order to pay $30,000 to the victim in restitution. Although we affirm his conviction without further comment, we find the restitution order was the product of improper coercion by the trial court and reverse that portion of the sentence.

Appellant’s charges stemmed from an incident that began with a verbal altercation between appellant and victim at appellant’s place of work. What led to the altercation was a matter of dispute. What…