"America's Got Talent" winner Landau Murphy Jr. allegedly sent a woman to the hospital with injuries to her head and face on Monday.
A verbal fight turned physical at Murphy's home in the Whitman area, when he attacked the woman with a golf club, according to a criminal complaint filed in Logan County Magistrate Court.
Murphy, the complaint states, also slapped the woman and slammed her head into a concrete sidewalk. Logan Regional Medical Center later treated the woman for swelling and bruising, according to the complaint.
Potting soil stained her clothes, and a State Police trooper found soil scattered throughout the lawn and sidewalk at Murphy's home, according to the complaint. The trooper also found a golf club in Murphy's living room, the complaint states.
Murphy and the woman have a 6-month-old child, who was present during the incident, according to the complaint.
The singer was charged with domestic battery and domestic assault, both misdemeanors. Authorities booked him into Southwestern Regional Jail at 7:40 p.m. Monday, and he was released about an hour later on a $3,500 bond.
Murphy, a Logan County native, became known globally for what one judge called a "million-dollar performance" that led him to win "America's Got Talent" in 2011.
He went on to sing jazz standards at more than 100 sold-out shows on three continents, according to his website. In the same year as his televised victory, local fans bought out three shows at the Clay Center.
The NAACP considered Murphy for the "Outstanding New Artist" category at its Image Awards, and the Gazette-Mail named him the West Virginian of the Year for his charitable donations and benefit shows.
He now faces charges of domestic battery and domestic assault in connection with his alleged attack on Monday.
He could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Reach Giuseppe Sabella at giuseppe.sabella@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @Gsabella on Twitter.