Man gets 15 year sentence for violent hammer attack

Lexington Co., SC (WOLO) — The Solicitor’s office says a man convicted of striking a man in the back of the head with a hammer during a verbal altercation has been sentenced to more than a decade behind bars for attempted murder.

Authorities say the incident happened at a Gaston home as the victim was walking away from an argument. Authorities say the victim claims to have lost consciousness momentarily, and once he came to he realized 34 year old John Patterson Hodges was hitting him with the tool about the head, face, back and chest before eyewitnesses say he began kicking him.

The victims was taken to the hospital where he stayed for several days being treated for a collapsed lung, a fractured rib, and scalp and facial cuts.