Local woman Angela Lynn McCormack was bound over to the Grand Jury Tuesday on charges of aggravated assault in a domestic case involving her sister, Natasha Prater. The Aug. 16 charge alleges McCormack pulled a knife and stabbed Prater at Prater’s Rock Island home after a visit between the women reportedly turned violent.
Under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Jean Brock, Prater, the sole witness in the case, took the stand describing the visit from McCormack as a mistake and stated she “should have never let her in.”
Prater said the visit took a turn for the worse when McCormack started “grilling me about the kids” and a “fuss” ensued. ADA Brock asked Prater why she was concerned ahead of time about the visit from her sister, to which Prater responded, “Two years ago, she beat my mom up pretty good.”
Upon further questioning from McCormack’s Public Defender, John Partin, Prater said she asked her sister to leave the residence after the conversation became heated. It was then that McCormack reportedly reached and retrieved a small knife from her pocket. According to Prater, McCormack said nothing but she “stanced” toward Prater brandishing the small purple switchblade. Prater said she knew the knife well because she has one just like it. Prater said when she saw the knife, “I just went for it.”
She remembers little of what happened next, but she did recall McCormack telling her to stop and to let her up. Both women were on the ground. McCormack left the premises and Prater’s husband contacted authorities. There were no witnesses to the scuffle.
Photographs of the wound, taken by Warren County Sherriff’s Department Det. Landon Pence who was dispatched to the call, were presented as evidence and described by Prater as “A little bitty cut like a poke with a dagger.” The wound was between Prater’s face and neck area. She received a tetanus shot and a foot x-ray, but no other medical attention was required. The knife involved in the incident was not recovered.
McCormack sustained a black eye and has been in jail since the incident.
After McCormack was bound to the Grand Jury, she and her defense requested the bail bond, which had been set for $50,000 due to a misunderstanding, be reduced to $5,000. The court granted this request.
