COURTLAND—A Franklin man was placed on five years probation for beating a Southampton County couple in the Walmart parking lot in December 2010.

Khalid El-Amin Muhammad, 43, in March was found guilty of unlawful wounding for beating Oliver and Karen Smith with a miniature souvenir baseball bat after Oliver Smith and Muhammad argued in the checkout line at the Armory Drive store.

During the trial, Judge Rodham Delk ruled that Muhammad, who was originally charged with malicious wounding, was guilty of the lesser offense because his testimony exhibited “a heat of passion that would’ve occurred in a reasonable person.”

Muhammad will pay $792 in court costs and 964 restitution.