Michael Charles Davis (Photo courtesy Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)
A 32-year-old man received a five-year prison sentence Wednesday for choking a woman until she passed out.
James City County resident Michael Charles Davis was confronted in March by a woman, whom he knows, regarding $400 missing from a bank account.
He became enraged during the confrontation, punching her, spitting on her and throwing things at her while preventing her from fleeing a residence on Burgess Street in James City County, according to Williamsburg-James City Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua DeFord.
The woman eventually went outside the house. Davis then put his hand over her mouth and pressed his body on her before choking her unconscious, DeFord said.
She woke up when he was trying to load her inside a truck, but escaped to a neighbor’s house.
When the James City County Police Department responded to the scene, an officer spoke to Davis, who said the woman started the fight and tried to call 911, but the call would not go through because Davis was out of minutes on his cell phone.
Police arrested Davis, charging him with one felony count of strangulation.
DeFord said the woman’s face was swollen and she had bruising around her neck from the incident.
Davis entered an Alford plea in August, conceding the evidence was sufficient to find him guilty while not admitting guilt.
Paul Freeman, Davis’ attorney, said David completed anger management while incarcerated.
“My client has reached a point where he’s ready to move on,” Freeman said.
Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Judge Michael McGinty suspended three years and six months of Davis’s five-year sentence Wednesday.
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