Charges were reduced Thursday in Dallas County District Court against a Des Moines man who allegedly repeatedly punched a Des Moines woman in the face inside a De Soto motel.
Ralph Edward Artis, 55, of 4225 Fleur Dr., Des Moines, was charged with assault causing bodily injury or mental illness in connection with an incident that began about 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 in the 800 block of Guthrie Street in De Soto, where officers of the De Soto Police Department, Van Meter Police Department and Dallas County Sheriff’s office responded to a report of an assault.
The officers made contact with the victim, who told the officers that Artis allegedly “hit her mouth after a verbal altercation” and “spit in her face” and “then knocked her to the floor on her back and punched her three more times on her face,” according to court records.
The officers observed on the victim “blood all over the left side of her face, running down her chin and over her chest, which looked to be coming from her mouth,” according to court records.
Artis was held in the Dallas County Jail on a $1,000 cash or surety bond. The Dallas County Attorney’s office moved Thursday to amend the charge to disorderly conduct “pursuant to newly discovered evidence and for the reason that the facts and circumstances of the case now better fit the elements of the amended charge,” according to court records.
Artis was convicted of assault in 2017 in Warren County District Court. He was convicted of disorderly conduct in 2023 in Polk County District Court. He was convicted in May in Polk County District of violating the no-contact order ordered Feb. 23 in order to protect the victim of the Feb. 22 alleged assault.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
