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Grand Forks man sentenced in Joe Black's bar beating

A Grand Forks man who fractured nearly every bone in another man's face during an attack at Joe Black's Bar and Grill will serve 30 days in jail and pay more than $6,000 in fines and restitution.

Tony Jesus Cooper

A Grand Forks man who fractured nearly every bone in another man's face during an attack at Joe Black's Bar and Grill will serve 30 days in jail and pay more than $6,000 in fines and restitution.

Tony Jesus Cooper, 25, was sentenced Wednesday in Grand Forks County District court for aggravated assault after agreeing to a plea bargain in October.

According to a criminal complaint, on the evening of April 22, officers found Jason Hunter outside Joe Black's holding a towel over his face and bleeding from his nose. Hunter's right eye also was swollen.

Hunter, 29, told the Herald that Cooper had come up behind him and smashed his head into a pool table in the bar's upper level.

Cooper was a bouncer at the bar, but was off duty at the time of the incident and was subsequently fired.

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Hunter had to have surgery and miss a month of work to recover because nearly every bone in his face, except for his lower jaw, was broken.

The criminal judgment said Cooper will pay $5,593.30 in restitution and $3,270 to replace wages lost by Hunter.

Cooper will have 335 days of his year sentence suspended. He will also be on supervised probation for 18 months following his release and must pay $525 in court fees.

Hunter, from Grand Forks, said he didn't know Cooper before the attack and that Cooper's only possible motivation was that Hunter threw a piece of ice at a friend on the bar's first level that might have hit Cooper.

Cooper is ordered to appear at the Grand Forks County Correctional Center no later than 7 p.m., Jan. 12.

Aggravated assault is a Class C felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

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