Multiple no-contest pleas in parking-lot assault cases; court imposes suspended jail terms and restitution

Several defendants connected to a June 3, 2023 confrontation in a parking lot adjacent to the Perfect Pig restaurant entered no-contest pleas in Dickson County Circuit Court; the judge accepted the factual proffers and imposed suspended jail terms, probation and restitution.

The court described the incident as involving a financial dispute between the Davenports and a victim identified as Joe Townsend. Prosecutors said a partial video shows a member of the Davenport household with a metal bat and that Townsend sought treatment at Horizon ER with facial injuries. The state proffered those facts while the court completed plea colloquies with the defendants.

Ted Bradley Elliott Davenport pleaded no contest to simple assault; the court found him guilty on the charge and sentenced him to 11 months and 29 days in county jail suspended to probation, ordering joint restitution of $1,000 with co-defendant Erica Davenport. The aggravated-robbery count was dismissed under the plea agreement.

The court also accepted a no-contest plea from Erica (recorded in the transcript as Erica Davenport) to an amended simple-assault count and sentenced her to 11 months and 29 days suspended to supervised probation with $1,000 restitution (jointly with Davenport) and court costs; another co-defendant’s plea to an amended count received the same suspended sentence and restitution terms.

The judge reminded the parties that the pleas do not admit wrongdoing but enable the court to rely on the state's evidence for sentencing. The court directed the defendants to see the probation department and closed those dockets.