Victim Was in a Coma for About Two Months
WASHINGTON - Kenneth Charles, 38, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a six-year prison term for a vicious assault on his girlfriend last fall that left her in a coma for months, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.
Charles pled guilty in February 2016, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to a charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced by the Honorable Todd E. Edelman. Following his prison term, Charles will be placed on three years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, on the evening of Oct. 19, 2015, Charles got into an argument with his girlfriend at the apartment they shared in Southeast Washington. The argument began in the bedroom, but was loud enough so that the victim’s daughter, who was inside the apartment with a friend at the time, could hear the yelling. As the argument ensued, the victim left the bedroom and walked out to the balcony.
When she reached the balcony, the victim tossed Charles’s clothes over the side and onto the ground below. She then immediately sat down in a chair on the balcony. Charles followed the victim out to the balcony, walked over to the edge, looked over and saw his clothes, and then turned to the victim and punched her in the face multiple times. Following the assault on the balcony, he and the victim made their way into the apartment, at which point, the argument and physical struggle continued. Charles punched the victim repeatedly until she lost consciousness. At some point during the altercation, the victim hit her head on a table. Charles, however, continued punching her even after she had fallen into the table and was unconscious.
Charles attempted to clean up the scene before he left the apartment. He did not call police before leaving. A witness called 911. At the hospital, the victim was unconscious and unresponsive. Two months after her arrival in the hospital, the victim slowly began to awaken from her coma. She is still recovering from the attack.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department, including detectives of the Criminal Investigations Division Homicide Branch as well as officers and detectives from the Seventh District. He also expressed appreciation for the work of the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services and the U.S. Marshals Service. He acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark; Paralegal Specialists Zekiah Wright, Debra Joyner, and Tierra Nanches; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard DiZinno. Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Eckert and Jessica Brooks, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
