Celebrity cowboy, 43, with disastrous marriage history is handed enormous jail sentence for beating elderly man to a pulp after victim asked him to repay debt

A former contestant on the Ultimate Cowboy Showdown has been sentenced to over a decade behind bars for savagely beating an elderly man to a pulp. 

Ethan Treadwell, 43, was handed a sentence of 10 years in state prison with a further 15 years suspended for a brutal attack on William 'Junior' Hicks, 74, in January 2024. 

Prosecutors said Treadwell flew into a violent frenzy when Hicks confronted him outside his cattle farm in Hobart, Oklahoma, about money that was owed to him. 

Treadwell's cattle farm sits on land owned by Hicks, with the 74-year-old claiming to have not been paid money owed to him from the leasing agreement. 

The former reality TV contestant, who was allegedly heavily intoxicated at the time, was with his wife Kendall Cross at the time, who finalized her divorce from him soon after the attack, according to The Lawton Constitution. 

When Hicks confronted Treadwell over the money he owed, Treadwell responded by knocking the elderly man to the ground before punching and kicking him over 10 times, prosecutors said. 

Treadwell continued the savage attack as he 'kicked his face repeatedly', inflicting serious injuries that resulted in traumatic brain injuries, the loss of 15 teeth, an orbital 'blowout' of his right eye, and a fractured skull. 

Hicks was airlifted to hospital, where he was placed on a ventilator and underwent facial reconstruction surgery. 

Treadwell was initially charged with aggravated assault and battery, but he pleaded down to lesser charges of maiming in court as he was sentenced. 

Treadwell starred in the first season of the reality TV series Ultimate Cowboy Showdown in 2019, where he competed in a variety of stunts including cattle wrangling and horseback riding. 

Prosecutors said the violent confrontation between Treadwell and Hicks was triggered over a lease disagreement, and both men live on the same road outside of Mountain Park. 

Treadwell was with his ex-wife Kendall at the time on land owned by Hicks and leased back to them, where they were culling her cattle.

The Ultimate Cowboy Showdown contestant's attack on Hicks left the elderly man with severe injuries and medical complications. 

After Hicks was airlifted to hospital, he underwent surgery on his fractured skull which included replacing his orbital bone with a metal plate. 

Hicks complained that the metal plate caused him pain, forcing him to undergo another surgery where harvested bone was used to repair his eye socket. 

However, while recovering from that surgery, Hicks had a sudden stroke and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since the medical emergency. 

When Treadwell was first charged, he claimed that Hicks 'came at him with a pair of pliers', and he insisted he 'had to defend himself.' 

However, prosecutors presented evidence that they said showed Hicks was holding a phone, not a pair of pliers, reports The Lawton Constitution. 

Treadwell went on to plead guilty to the lesser charges on June 3, and at his sentencing he was told he would be required to serve at least half of his 10-year prison sentence before being eligible for parole. 

Just a month after the January 2024 attack, Treadwell was also hit with another setback as he lost a default judgement over unpaid debts to the Farmers Cooperative Association. 

Treadwell was ordered to pay $104,420 for unpaid goods from the co-op, $655 in court costs, and $4,110 in attorney fees. 

The former reality TV contestant saw his divorce from his wife Kendall finalized in January 2024, two years after they married in Weatherford, Texas, on grounds of incompatibility. 

Records show Treadwell's first marriage to Lindsey Gayle Linney in 2008 also ended in divorce in April 2007.