Michael Charles Davis (Photo courtesy Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)
A 31-year-old James City County man entered an Alford plea Thursday to a strangulation charge filed against him after police said he choked a woman until she passed out in March.
Michael Charles Davis accepted a plea deal calling for a guilty plea to felony strangulation in order for charges of domestic assault and battery and violating a protective order to be dropped. An Alford plea is a plea where a defendant maintains he or she is innocent but does not want to take the risk of being convicted in a formal trial.
Had the case gone to trial, the strangulation victim — a woman Davis knows — would have testified she confronted him about $400 missing from a bank account, at which point he became enraged, punched her, spit on her and threw things at her while stopping her from fleeing a residence in the county, according to Williamsburg-James City County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua DeFord.
Eventually she got outside the house. Davis then put his hand over her mouth and pressed his body on her before choking her unconscious, DeFord said. When she regained consciousness, Davis was trying to load her inside a truck. She 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 he tried to call 911 but the call would not go through because he was out of minutes on his cell phone. He then gave the phone to the officer and told him to try. The officer was able to successfully dial 911 with the phone, DeFord said.
Davis said he did not know the woman had black eyes and eventually said “just take me to jail” to the police officer, DeFord said.
Davis’ attorney, Paul Williams, said the woman had taken medication belonging to Davis prior to the fight.
He will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Nov. 12. He faces up to five years in prison.
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