A man accused of biting someone’s ear off after choking them out in a fight entered an Alford plea to the crime in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Monday.
Dean Schrantz, 21, pleaded guilty to malicious assault through an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit guilt but will face the consequences.
Judge Debra Scudiere did not immediately accept the plea, as a pre-trial diversion is part of the agreement and will reduce the felony conviction to a misdemeanor if Schrantz successfully completes the terms of the deal. If he does not complete the diversion, his plea will be accepted he will be convicted of malicious assault.
Those terms include a year of supervised probation, 150 hours of community service, anger management classes and paying restitution to the victim, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Robert Zak said. The amount of restitution has yet to be determined. Schrantz will serve his probation in New Jersey, where he lives.
If Schrantz follows the terms of the deal, he will appear back in court, which will then accept a plea to battery. Both malicious assault and strangulation, the charges Schrantz were indicted on in January, are felonies. The strangulation charge was dropped as part of the plea.
J. Bryan Edwards, Schrantz’s attorney, told Scudiere that while he thought the plea was in his client’s best interest, the case was very defendable and there were many discussions about how to proceed.
He said the choice to enter the Alford plea was made to protect Schrantz because “you never know what a jury can do.”
If the case had gone to trial, the state would have shown that WVU Police responded to University Place on October 2, 2018. Once there they found Schrantz and his girlfriend. Both said Schrantz choked the victim out then bit off part of his ear.
Since he entered an Alford plea, Schrantz did not have to confirm those events as is typically done in a plea hearing.
Following the hearing, Edwards told The Dominion Post that the “bite” was actually a large-gage earring that was ripped out during the struggle. He also said Bruce Cafurello Jr., who he called the alleged victim, was the aggressor, waited 45 minutes after Schrantz left to call the police and is currently facing charges for beating his would-be star witness — his girlfriend.
Cafurello 20, of Clifton, Va., was charged with domestic battery on March 23.
