Trial begins for MMA trainer, Kyle Watson Gray, accused of beating 70-year-old man
The trial for MMA trainer Kyle Watson Gray began on Tuesday, four years after he is accused of attacking a 70-year-old man who spent six months in the hospital recovering from injuries in North Carolina.
Gray is trained in mixed martial arts, but his attorney says his actions in August 2020 were just to protect himself, saying the victim, now 74-year-old Meredith Scruggs threatened to kill Gray and even put him in a hold.
“I have trouble seeing out of this eye, I had to get glasses – I never wore glasses in my entire life,” Scruggs said while on the witness stand Tuesday.
Meredith was transported to CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia before later being sent to a Charlotte medical facility.
The former college athlete and high school wrestling and football coach said he had a broken rib, punctured lung, staples in his head, and a fractured skull.
Gray already had charges pending in Mecklenburg County during the attack, including assault with a deadly weapon – intent to kill, breaking and entering/terrorizing, and misdemeanor injury to personal property. In that related Mecklenburg County case, Gray is accused of breaking into a Charlotte home and beating the person inside on April 5, 2019.
He was charged in Mecklenburg with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, breaking and entering to terrorize or injure, and injury to personal property.
After his arrest for the attack on Scruggs, Gray was psychologically evaluated, and Superior Court Judge David Phillips, who read the evaluation, found him this week to be competent to stand trial. He is charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
Gray also faces a charge of threatening a legal officer, which stems from a post on Gray’s Facebook page that officers felt threatened former District Court Judge Richard Abernethy’s safety.
