Newberry man arrested on burglary and battery charges

Staff report

Updated on April 8 with bail information.

NEWBERRY, Fla. – Michael Leland Akins, 48, was arrested yesterday after allegedly entering a home uninvited and hitting two women with a sharp metal object.

The responding Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy reported that at about 2:13 p.m. on March 26, Akins went to the home of a former girlfriend and entered uninvited through an unlocked door. He reportedly started arguing with the victim and demanded to see her phone; he allegedly knocked her phone out of her hands and then punched her repeatedly.

Another woman in the house reportedly picked up a baseball bat and started hitting Akins to stop him from hitting the first victim, and Akins allegedly started hitting the second victim.

Akins allegedly went outside, picked up a sharp piece of metal, and hit the second victim, leaving injuries that made the second victim believe her arm was broken. The first victim also sustained a knee injury and told the deputy that it was the result of a fall, but the deputy noted that it was consistent with a strike from a sharp metal object. Both victims reportedly described the sharp metal object as being large and heavy enough to cause death or great bodily harm.

A third person in the home reportedly corroborated the accounts of the two victims.

The responding deputy reported that the first victim had marks and bruises in multiple places on her upper body, her hands were so swollen that she could barely move her fingers, and she had a deep laceration on her knee.

Akins reportedly left the property in a red truck and was found a short time later; deputies reported that it was clear from his injuries that he had been engaged in a physical altercation.

Post Miranda, Akins reportedly admitted that he had been in an altercation, but he said it was in self-defense.

Akins has been charged with burglary with battery and two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He has five local misdemeanor convictions (non-violent), all before 2006. Judge Luis Bustamante ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial. On April 8, Judge Robert Groeb denied the motion and set bail at $200,000, with a requirement for a GPS monitor upon release.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.