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Wednesday, April 17, 2024 | Back issues
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Randy Travis Gets|Deferred Adjudication

PLANO, Texas (CN) - Country singer Randy Travis agreed to deferred adjudication on misdemeanor assault charges for a brawl in a church parking lot, shortly after he filed a lawsuit claiming to be the victim.

Travis was lead plaintiff, with two others, in a civil complaint against a dentist and another man. He filed a complaint for conspiracy and assault and battery in Collin County Court on Jan. 16. The fracas erupted in a parking lot in August 2012.

Travis agreed to 90 days deferred adjudication after pleading guilty or no-contest last Friday, CBS News' Plano affiliate reported.

In his civil complaint, Travis and his fiancée, Mary Beougher, sued Beougher's estranged husband, Ritchie Dean Beougher, D.D.S., and her own brother, William Barnes Davis. Beougher's daughter, Cavanaugh, also was a plaintiff.

The brawl occurred outside Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

In his complaint, Travis claimed he accompanied his fiancée to the church that day as she went to pick up her son, Raleigh, from a camping trip. Cavanaugh rode in a separate vehicle.

He claimed the defendants carried out their "scheme" in the parking lot, intending: "(1) to physically injure plaintiffs; (2) for Ritchie to gain leverage over Mary in their pending divorce case and obtain a disproportionate share of the parties' community estate in his favor; (3) to attempt to harass, embarrass, and humiliate Travis; and (4) to destroy Mary's happy new life without Ritchie."

The conversation between Mary and Ritchie escalated, and he "grabbed Mary by her arms and threw her up against his truck multiple times," Travis said in the complaint. "Barnes suddenly entered the fray by walking up and pushing Mary backwards."

Travis says in the complaint that as Cavanaugh tried to intervene and help her mother, "Barnes punched her on the right side of her face, grabbed her by the wrist, and threw her to the ground."

That's when he stepped in, Travis claims.

The complaint states: "Randy was sitting in Mary's car waiting for Mary. When she didn't return right away he turned around and looked for her. From Mary's car, he saw Ritchie bouncing Mary off of his truck and saw Cavanaugh on the ground. He immediately exited the vehicle he was in, approached Ritchie and told Barnes to back off and leave Cavanaugh alone and exchanged some choice words with him. Barnes, who had already warmed himself up by assaulting his sister, Mary, and his teenage niece, Cavanaugh, grabbed Randy and wrestled him to the ground.

Calling what happened next a "set-up," the complaint continues: "As Barnes began to wrestle Randy to the ground, Ritchie contacted a friend of his, on his cell phone, who is a Plano police officer (the 'officer'), to come to the scene. On information and belief, Ritchie had called the officer earlier that evening and arranged for him to be in the school's parking lot in advance because Ritchie knew he was going to start a fight with Mary, Randy and/or Cavanaugh that evening. Ritchie knew that Mary, being the devoted mother that she was, would go with Cavanaugh to pick up Raleigh because she had not seen her son since he left for summer camp.

"Shortly thereafter, the Plano police officer arrived on the scene. Barnes Davis was on top of Randy Travis and had him pinned down when the police officer arrived. Barnes released Randy after several warnings from the police officer to do so. When Barnes finally let him up, the police officer handcuffed Randy, and cursed at Mary. Ritchie and Barnes (the two men who struck and shoved all three plaintiffs to the ground) were not arrested, warned or issued a citation. Randy and Cavanaugh, the true victims, were each given a citation." (Parentheses in complaint.)

The singer's legal woes are not over. He faces DWI charges in Grayson County, Texas, for a one-car accident that also occurred in August.

Travis "expects a trouble-free 2013 devoted to his very supportive fans and friends," his attorney Larry Friedman told CBS News.

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