Woman sentenced in Lowell hammer attack

LOWELL, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) –A Lowell woman pled guilty to charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after attacking a woman with a hammer in 2012.

Jessica Garcia, 35, was sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court Friday to nine to 11 years in state prison, with an additional three years probation, drug testing and mental health evaluations after her prison sentence, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

In June 2012, police responded to an apartment in Lowell where they found a 41-year-old woman suffering from severe head wounds and a bloody hammer nearby. They allege Garcia, an acquaintance of the woman, had repeatedly hit the woman with the claw of the hammer.

The victim has numerous scars as a result of injuries to her head, face and neck. The district attorney's office says she has since suffered two strokes and needed a steel plate placed in her jaw.

"This senseless act of violence was the result of the defendant's determination to force the victim to provide her with money," District Attorney Ryan said in a statement.  "Although this phase of the case is now complete, the victim continues to suffer from the long term effects of her injuries."

In addition to beating the woman with a hammer, Garcia demanded the victim's ATM card and PIN number, and was later seen on bank surveillance attempting to use the victim's ATM card.

Garcia will serve the prison sentence for these crimes after her current prison sentence, from an unrelated case, is finished, Ryan said.

Cox Media Group