A local man facing a myriad of charges, including allegations he struck another man with a machete during a dispute last August, entered a plea agreement in Circuit Court Wednesday.
Michael Darnell Burch entered a best-interest plea to one count of aggravated assault with bodily injury, and pleaded guilty to two counts of sale of methamphetamine and one count of sale of fentanyl, receiving a total sentence of 12 years, to serve a total of 527 days in jail with the balance on Tennessee Department of Corrections probation.
While the drug charges stem from sales to confidential informants made in May of 2024, the assault charge was based on an indictment alleging Burch struck Dalton Holton in the side of the head with a machete during an altercation Aug. 6 on Flat Rock Rd. in the Vervilla community.
At the preliminary hearing on Burch’s assault charge, which resulted in the case being sent to the Warren County Grand Jury, Investigator Calvin Hammond of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office reported he contacted Holton, who was being treated by Warren County EMS for a wound to the right side of his head. After locating Burch, who had left the scene after the alleged attack, the defendant admitted to striking Holton, stating he was defending his brother Rickey, who had allegedly had an altercation with the victim.
Holton was transported to Ascension St. Thomas River Park, and later flown to Vanderbilt for further treatment. As part of Burch’s plea agreement, he is ordered to have no contact with Holton upon his release, and must pay restitution in an amount yet to be determined. Burch was fined $50 for the assault charge, as well as a total of $6,000 for his three guilty pleas on drug charges.
The breakdown of each charge includes nine-year sentences for all three drug offenses, to serve 364 days with the balance on supervised probation as a Range 1 offender. Each count carried a $2,000 fine, and court costs. The jail time and probation periods will all run concurrently. The assault charge, which included a three-year sentence to serve 163 days, along with a $50 fine and court costs.
