CLAY CO.— A Flora man with a lengthy history of violence has been charged with a pair of felonies after authorities say he choked a Clay County woman.
According to information filed in the case, on January 19, while at his home, William Edgar Combs, 31, of 130 Lincoln Ave., Flora, committed the offense of Aggravated Domestic Battery/ Strangulation when he intentionally strangled Stella Combs, a family member.
Combs is also charged with felony Domestic Battery due to the fact of being previously convicted of violence on at least four prior occasions.
In Clay County, Combs was convicted October 25, 2013 of one count of Domestic Battery for which he was sentenced to 364 days in the county jail and ordered to pay $277 in fines and fees.
In Marion County, Combs has numerous convictions for violence including an August 24, 2005 conviction for Domestic Battery.
He was sentenced in that case to probation for two years and ordered to pay $834 in fines and fees.
He was sentenced to 90 days in the Marion County Jail, probation for another 24 months and ordered to pay $855 in fines and fees on December 16, 2008 after he was convicted of felony Domestic Battery Causing Bodily Harm and Battery Making Physical Contact.
Then on June 16, 2009 he was found guilty of Battery in Marion County and sentenced in that case to 180 days in the county jail and ordered to pay $125 in fines and fees, of which he has paid nothing.
On addition, his probation was revoked in the 2008 case and he was re-sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) for two years.
On March 26, 2011, Combs was arrested and charged in Marion County with Home Invasion Causing Injury and Domestic Battery.
In a plea deal Aug. 17, 2011, he pleaded guilty to the domestic charge in return for the home invasion charge being dismissed and was sentenced to another 30 months in IDOC.
Cash bond in the case was set at $2,500.
A jury trial has been scheduled for April 11, at 8:30 a.m.