A 58-year-old Spring Lake Road man vividly described Monday in Cherokee County General Sessions Court the brutal beating he took after three armed men forced their way into his Corinth home.

One of the three stood over him as he lay on the floor, holding a gun on him and repeatedly striking and threatening him.

“The person who was beating on me was doing it as hard as he could,” the man told Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole.

The best the man could do, he said, was try to shield his head from the estimated 100 blows he took during the beating, which lasted as long as 35 minutes.

A total of four young men were charged with the Sept. 23, 2008, home invasion of the man’s Spring Lake Road home. On Monday the final two defendants entered guilty pleas.

Christopher Giroux, 19, of Spring Lake Road, entered a guilty plea to charges of armed robbery, first degree burglary and assault and battery with intent to kill.

Michelangelo Dicosola, 20, also of Spring Lake Road, entered a guilty plea to a single count of armed robbery.

Following a lengthy plea hearing, Judge Cole sentenced Giroux to 30 years in prison, suspended upon the service of 20 years imprisonment and five years probation.

Dicosola was sentenced to 30 years, suspended upon the service of 10 years and five years probation.

Donnie Jones, 22, formerly of Killion Street, Blacksburg, and Thomas Barron Jr., 18, formerly of Wofford Road, Gaffney, each pleaded guilty before Circuit Court Judge Mark Hayes last month to charges of first degree burglary, armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill in connection with the incident and also to unrelated charges.

Both Jones and Barron will serve 20 years in prison.

Assistant Solicitor Kim Leskanic, who prosecuted all four cases, said that Barron, Jones and Giroux forced their way into the Spring Lake Road home at about 1 a.m. on the aforementioned date after ringing the man’s doorbell. She said the homeowner answered the door because his mother was sick and he thought someone was bringing him bad news.

He was forced back into his home at gunpoint, where one of the three men stood over him and beat him while the others ransacked the home, looking for things to steal.

At one point, Leskanic said in court, the man standing over the homeowner asked if the homeowner wanted to play “Russian roulette” and pulled the trigger of his gun twice, though it did not fire.

Giroux admitted that he rummaged through the home, but claimed he initially had no idea that Barron and Jones planned to rob someone. He thought the home was vacant, according to his attorney. Giroux also claimed he was not armed, though the homeowner maintained in court that all three men who entered his home had weapons.

Dicosola never went into the home, prosecutors said, instead staying outside to serve as a lookout.

Dicosola claimed he left after about 10 minutes and went home, though he admittedly carried with him a jar of change that was handed to him.

Giroux said in court that Jones and Barron had come to his home that night and said they needed money.

“I was under peer pressure,” he answered when asked by Judge Cole about why he went with them that night. “I didn’t have any idea we were going to break into someone’s house.“

When he learned the plan, however, Giroux admitted in court, “I didn’t say anything, your Honor.”

Both Giroux and Dicosola apologized to the victim for their involvement. Both asked for leniency in sentencing.

The homeowner told the judge he didn’t know any of his attackers and had no idea two of the four men lived on the same street.

“I was asked (during the incident) where my wife was and when she was coming back,” the homeowner told the judge. “These guys didn’t know I was divorced.”

The man said those questions by one of his attackers continues to make him wonder what would have happened if he had a wife, children or grandchildren there at the time.

Giroux’s defense attorney said he didn’t try to make up any stories when questioned by police and did the right thing by giving a “full and complete” account.

“There’s no excuse for him taking part in this,” the defense attorney said. “But he’s done everything he can to fix it.”

A defense attorney for Dicosola said his client had a minimal role in the incident but accepted responsibility. “He knows he’s going to prison today,” the attorney said.