photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Anthony Duane Harris

A Topeka man was sentenced Thursday in Douglas County District Court to 32 months in prison in connection with an incident on Thanksgiving Day of 2022 when he used a tree branch to break a man’s nose.

The man, Anthony Duane Harris, 57, originally faced felony counts of robbery and aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of criminal damage and battery for an incident on Nov. 24, 2022, according to charging documents.

Harris was alleged to have approached a woman and her child near their residence in the 1600 block of Haskell Avenue and to have forcibly taken the woman’s cellphone. The child was able to escape into the residence, but Harris prevented the woman from going inside. A man inside the residence came outside and confronted Harris and was injured during the confrontation, as the Journal-World reported.

Harris pleaded no contest in April to one count of aggravated battery as part of a plea agreement that dismissed the remaining robbery and assault charges. Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald said during the plea hearing that Harris picked up a large tree branch and struck the man in the face, breaking his nose.

On Thursday, Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced Harris to 32 months in prison, in accordance with Kansas sentencing guidelines based on Harris’ criminal history score. She said that Harris had served 168 days, or 5.5 months in the Douglas County Jail since his arrest; that time will go toward his prison sentence, meaning Harris has another 26 months left to serve.

According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, Harris has a lengthy criminal record going back to 1992 — including multiple felony convictions for theft, burglary and drugs in Shawnee County — and dozens of disciplinary reports within the prison system.