Former Bourbon Man Who Paralyzed Woman In Assault Gets Seven Year Sentence

It has been 23 months since Tracy Wagner was on the verge of losing her daughter.

Jamie Peters was on her way to work the morning of Aug. 17, 2021. Wagner said she was running late for a meeting.

On her way in, Peters was trailed by Joseph Voisey, 37, formerly of Bourbon. Peters passed Voisey on a gravel road. It angered him, and he followed the mother of three children into town.

Peters and Voisey stopped on Pine Street in Bourbon. Voisey, who according to court records is 6-foot-5 and approximately 250 pounds, hurled insults and cursed at Peters. It was the last thing she remembers before Voisey threw a punch with such force that a witness saw Peters’ body completely leave the ground.

The impact of the punch nearly took Peters’ life. She was rushed to the hospital where Wagner said she was told her daughter was unlikely to survive. Surgeons had to remove part of her skull. 

Meanwhile, Voisey evaded police and managed to do so even as his victim remain hospitalized in a fight for her life. 

Peters’ family conducted their own independent inquiry, eventually identifying Voisey as a potential suspect.

Law enforcement used the family’s work, along with various surveillance video, cellular phone data, GPS data and Voisey’s employment time cards to make an arrest.

Voisey was charged with first-degree assault in November 2021. His case proceeded through the system, with him pleading not guilty in May 2022. A trial was set to take place in Dent County for June 2023, but on his final day to plea, he took a lesser charge of second-degree assault.

Voisey was sentenced July 18 to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, bringing finality to an incident that has forever changed the life of Wagner, Peters and their family. 

Voisey remained incarcerated at the Crawford County Jail as of July 23.

***

The acceptance of a lesser charge is sure to surprise some, but for Wagner, she had to take the better bet.

Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney David Smith told Wagner he wasn’t sure that Voisey would even plead guilty. The difference between first-degree and second-degree is intent, and proving that Voisey intended to give her a traumatic brain injury could be difficult at trial.

“We just wanted a plea,” Wagner said, two days after the sentence was handed down. “I didn’t want to risk a hung jury.”

Wagner agreed with Smith, who told her he was “pretty sure” Voisey would get jail time.

When the seven-year sentence was handed down by Judge Michael Randazzo, Wagner wasn’t even sure at first what he said.

“I asked the victim advocate, ‘did he get seven years?’” 

The advocate told her that, or the judge was just reading off the possibility. After a few more seconds, it was confirmed to Wagner that Voisey was being jailed for nearly a decade.

“The judge said, ‘what you did was unthinkable and I couldn’t live with myself if I put you on probation,’” Wagner said.

Asked if it was a satisfactory sentence, Wagner said there is nothing that could equal what Voisey did to her daughter.

“I don’t think any amount of time will compensate for what he did,” she said. “If he had a brain injury and had to suffer, then they would be equal. There’s nothing they can do that will make him as miserable as my daughter.”

***

The last two years have been a “living hell” for Wagner, who — between being the care provider for her daughter — also manages a farm outside Steelville.

“I cried every day for over a year,” Wagner said. 

Peters has made a steady recovery, but she remains unable to walk. She lacks balance and impulse control. While her memory is “great,” she does get foggy. Peters doesn’t remember everything that happened and doctors have said she won’t. What she recalls is interrupting Voisey to ask “if he kisses his mother with that mouth.” 

Wagner said it’s hard to know what Peters’ long-term prognosis is. She’s heard it could be five years for her to reach the peak of her abilities.

“You don’t know how it’s going to end,” Wagner said. “She has good spirits. She was always my funniest kid and she still cracks jokes.”

Wagner was unaware anything had happened to her daughter until 3 p.m. that afternoon, eight hours after the assault. 

When Peters was a child, Wagner said she and her daughter would squeeze each other’s hand three times — a non-verbal way of saying “I love you.”

As she sat by her daughter’s bedside following the surgery, Wagner said she held Peters’ hand and squeezed it. She said Peters squeezed it back three times.

“I told the nurse and she didn’t believe me,” Wagner said, though she knew her daughter was still there, fighting to stay alive. 

Later, the surgeon came in and told her Peters would survive.

“Go home and get some rest,” the surgeon told Wagner. “She’s going to need you.”