Paden pleads guilty to Harrison Pub aggravated battery charge; will be sentenced in February

QUINCY — A Quincy man has entered a guilty plea to an Aggravated Battery charge for hitting a man in the head outside a Quincy bar, sending him to the hospital.

Bryan Paden, 40, appeared with attorney Nick Rober in Adams County Circuit Court Friday morning before Judge Tad Brenner. One count of aggravated battery was dropped and one was accepted as part of the plea negotiations. Those charges typically have a sentencing range between two and five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, but Paden is also eligible for a longer sentence.

A person convicted of a felony, after already having previous felony convictions within a 10-year period, is eligible for an extended term and Paden has two of them: A five-year sentence in the DOC for delivery of meth in 2011. He received a 7½-year sentence in the DOC for possession of meth in 2017.  

Paden could receive probation or between two and eight years in the DOC at sentencing.

The incident occurred at the Harrison Pub, 1701 Harrison, in the early morning hours on Jan. 29. The Quincy Police Department officers and Adams County EMS personnel found an unconscious male lying on the ground outside of Harrison Pub. The unconscious male, later to be identified as Jason Summers, 40, of Quincy, was transported to Blessing Hospital by ambulance and later placed in a medically induced coma in the intensive care unit.

Detectives with the Quincy Police Department determined the next day there had been a disturbance between Paden and Summers. Paden and multiple other subjects fled the scene immediately after the disturbance, but Paden turned himself in to the Quincy Police Department on Feb. 2.

Jones told the court there was videotape evidence from the Harrison Pub showing Paden hitting Summers. The defense acknowledged the evidence.

Following a pre-sentence investigation, Paden will appear before Brenner on Feb. 26 for sentencing.