A North Carolina woman, tears welling in her eyes at times, recounted in Cherokee County Court on Monday everything she had lost and everything she has fought to regain.

After spending two months in a hospital, a portion of it in a coma, for treatment of a traumatic brain injury, Cheryl Green said she had to re-learn how to talk and walk and that the effects of that injury still continue to this day. The mother of three hasn’t been able to return to work and she said she’s reminded constantly that she’ll continue to be viewed in a different light because of her injury.

“He changed my life dramatically,” she said while looking towards the man responsible.

Early on Christmas morning, 2007, Green was working as a clerk at the Wilco Travel Plaza in Blacksburg, a very short distance from the North Carolina border. Donald Joshua Jones, now 28, of Grover, N.C., and another person allegedly shoplifted some merchandise from the truck stop that morning and Green, in an attempt to stop him from leaving, stood in front of his car.

Assistant Solicitor Kim Leskanic, who prosecuted Jones in Cherokee County Court, argued Jones responded by hitting his gas pedal.

While it’s unclear if Green was either thrown onto the hood of Jones’ vehicle or jumped on it, it is clear she held on as Jones sped back into North Carolina, taking a route through a field that signified to police and prosecutors his intention was to throw her off.

About four tenths of a mile away from where the incident began, Green was thrown from the hood onto a roadway, where she struck her head and, Leskanic argued, was “left for dead.”

Jones pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to the charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, telling Circuit Court Judge Roger Couch, “I take full responsibility for what I did.”

Because the incident crossed state lines, Jones still faces a number of charges in North Carolina, including leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily injury. It’s unclear when Jones will go to court on those charges.

At the time of the incident, Leskanic argued that Jones had been drinking vodka and was taking the prescription drug Xanax. In South Carolina, Jones faced charges only in connection with his initial contact with Green.

Jones’ defense attorney said in court he had hoped to handle the charges in North Carolina first, and noted that most of what transpired actually occurred in North Carolina.

A state border didn’t matter to Green, who told the judge, “It was his intention to hurt me.”

Jones faced a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment on the assault and battery charge in South Carolina and, at the end of the hearing, Judge Couch decided Jones should get nothing less.

“It is but by the grace of God you’re not here before me for a homicide,” Judge Couch told Jones.

The judge subsequently ruled that the maximum of 10 years was an appropriate sentence under the circumstances.