1 Miley Cyrus Boy Gets Deal to Sing, Another Carted Off to Jail For 4 Weeks

One of the Miley Cyrus boys copped a plea that let him walk free in exchange for testifying against his pals but another was carted off from court to the county jail after taking a less favorable deal.

Jason Palacios, 28, dodged a felony case by pleading to misdemeanor battery Tuesday morning. He left court a free man but agreed to testify against two of his buddies, Robert Krapil, also 28, and Daniel Lahey, 27.

Palacios, Krapil, Lahey and the man tabbed by prosecutors as their “ringleader,” 28-year-old Ryan Elliott, launched an unprovoked attack against 35-year-old Alex Hernandez at the Hickory Street bar Lety’s place in May 2014, police said.

The four were gabbing about Miley Cyrus when they got there, police said, but quickly turned their attention to Hernandez, who was there with his girlfriend, Jennifer Baranski, 32.

Hernandez said Elliott first ordered him to “take your ass to the other end of the bar with all the other Mexicans,” then called him a “spic” and a “beaner” before he and his three buddies pummeled him and knocked him to the floor.

Baranski tried to shield Hernandez from the blows, the couple said, but the four men, along with two others who have never been arrested or identified, beat her as well.

Donny Rice, the father of the woman who was tending bar at Lety’s that night, had just stopped by to bring her some dinner when the Miley Cyrus Boys went after Hernandez. Rice, 45, said he told them to stop beating Hernandez and Baranski. They allegedly responded by savagely battering him as well.

Along with aggravated battery, Elliott was charged with a hate crime, which was dismissed as part of his plea deal. His agreement also disposed of another aggravated battery case he picked up after the Miley Cyrus attack. Elliot Caught that charge for allegedly breaking the nose of Joliet resident Jim Lanham with an unprovoked punch at the Essington Road bar On the Rocks in June 2013.

Elliott was arrested after the fight but prosecutors chose not to file charges against him. The case was reviewed and charges were filed a year later — five days after he and the other three were arrested in connection with the Miley Cyrus Boys attack.

Lanham spoke from the witness stand before Elliott was sentenced. He asked Judge Carla Alessio-Policandriotes to order Elliott to wear a bracelet to monitor whether he has consumed any alcohol after he serves his 27 days in jail. Judge Alessio-Policandriotes told Lanham he “read her mind” and handed down the order. She also commanded Elliott to submit to a drug and alcohol evaluation and required him to abide by other conditions related to substance abuse.

Krapil and Lahey were given a September date for their respective trials.

Rice, who previously voiced his displeasure with the deals Elliott and Palacios received, was still unhappy the day they pleaded out.

“I think it should have been a lot worse (for them), no doubt about that,” he said.

Rice said the Miley Cyrus Boys “could have killed” Hernandez, and that Krapil and Lahey stomped on the Crest Hill man after he was unconscious on the floor.

“It was a joke to them,” Rice said, noting that Elliott’s jail time and Palacios’ misdemeanor conviction was “better than them totally getting away with it, I guess.”

Charles B. Pelkie, the spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office, said the sentences were in line with what Elliott and Palacios would have received if they went to trial and were found guilty.

“These are good dispositions, given the criminal backgrounds of the defendants and given the nature of the crimes,” Pelkie said.

“That plea agreement brought Ryan Elliott to the table,” he said, “and that secured a conviction.”