Rock Falls man gets 8 years in prison for fracturing victim’s skull, causing brain bleed

MORRISON – A Rock Falls man has been sent to prison for beating a man so badly earlier this year that he fractured his skull and caused a brain bleed.

Jeremy L. Standard, 40, has been sentenced to eight years in state prison after pleading guilty Aug. 21 to aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, according to Whiteside County court documents. He also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge for hitting a second man and was ordered to serve one year in jail.

Both charges stemmed from a March 2 fight in rural Rock Falls between Standard and two other people. According to court documents, deputies were dispatched to the 2200 block of East Rock Falls Road after receiving a report that a man had been injured there. According to the documents, an officer found a man lying on the ground who had a bleeding cut on the right side of his face. Several witnesses reported that they had seen Standard hit the man in the face.

The man was unresponsive and taken to CGH Medical Center before being sent to Javon Bea Hospita – Riversidel in Rockford for treatment of his fractured skull and brain bleed.

According to court documents, surveillance video showed Standard strike the man in the face, take another swing, miss and fall to the ground. Standard then approached the man again and punched him in the face, causing him to lose consciousness and fall backward onto the ground. Standard then can be seen on the video standing over the man, winding up and punching him across the face. After that, Standard grabbed another man and punched him in the face, according to court documents.

The felony battery charge was filed March 7, with the trial information amended March 13 to add the misdemeanor battery charge.

Standard, formerly of Sterling, Silvis and Moline, has remained in the Whiteside County Jail since his March 12 arrest on a warrant. As part of the plea deal, he will be given credit for 162 days served; will serve six months of mandatory supervised release; and must pay $1,263 in fines, fees and court costs.

His criminal history includes felony battery convictions in three counties since 2002.

He was charged Jan. 13, 2014, in Whiteside County with two counts of aggravated battery and one of attempted robbery. He was accused of trying to rob a man at a Rock Falls bar Jan. 1; demanding cash or his wallet; then searching his pants pockets before striking him, knocking him unconscious and causing a concussion, according to the charging document.

Standard pleaded guilty July 23, 2014, to one count of aggravated battery, and was sentenced to fours years in prison. Per a plea agreement, the other two counts were dismissed.

He was charged Oct. 23, 2002, with aggravated robbery and conspiracy to rob a school or place of worship the day before; he was sentenced Dec. 20, 2002, to four years for the robbery, and the other charge was dismissed per a plea agreement.

Standard also had six criminal misdemeanor cases filed between 2002 and 2022 in Whiteside County, all involving battery, disorderly conduct or theft charges. He was found not guilty in two of the battery cases and pleaded guilty in the others.

Standard also has two felony convictions in Rock Island County, where he was charged Feb. 23, 2019, with two counts of battery, one a misdemeanor, and with violating an order of protection, a felony. On Sept. 20, he was charged with four counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, one of aggravated battery of a pregnant person and one of misdemeanor battery in an incident that happened in East Moline.

In the September incident, Standard hit a man, who fell to the ground and suffered a brain bleed, and hit a woman in the face and pushed her to the ground, according to court records.

He pleaded guilty April 22, 2020, to the felony battery in the February case and to aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in the September case. He was sentenced to 2½ years of probation on each, with the terms to run concurrently. All other charges were dismissed per a plea agreement, court records show.

On May, 5, 2011, in Lee County, Standard was charged with two counts of harassing a witness and one of attempted harassment in connection with threatening to harm a man who was set to testify in a court case, according to the charging document.

He pleaded guilty May 11, 2011, to one count of harassment and was sentenced to two years in prison; the other two counts were dismissed per a plea agreement.

He was charged Feb. 10, 2006, with aggravated battery and battery for punching a man in the face in Dixon. He pleaded guilty Oct. 11, 2006, to aggravated battery and was sentenced to 2½ years of probation.

He also was charged in three misdemeanor cases in Lee County – two in 2002 for battery and retail theft, to which he pleaded guilty, and one in 2006 in which he was charged with battery in late January, which was dismissed about two weeks later on Feb. 14.