CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man will be spending time in state prison for strangling a woman in September.
Police say Justin Vincent Windows, 26, had been regularly assaulting the woman who suffers from cerebral palsy.
During colloquy court with sentencing on Monday, Windows pleaded guilty to felony strangulation and misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person before President Judge Paul E. Cherry who sentenced him to serve 16 months to four years in state prison.
It was noted that this was a domestic violence case.
He was originally also charged with aggravated assault, abuse of care dependent person and terroristic threats.
The criminal complaint details how friends of the victim believed she was being repeatedly assaulted by Windows. They reported that he was limiting their access to her as he was “very controlling” and had possession of her phone. At one point she confided in her friends that he had assaulted her, dislocating her wrist.
These friends invited the victim and Windows to their home in the hope they could talk separately with her. They noticed when they arrived that the victim had multiple bruises on her arms, legs and face.
She was questioned separately and told her friends that she was assaulted several times by Windows. After this, they told Windows that the victim was going to stay with them for the night, which irritated him. They eventually convinced him to leave her at their home. They then took her to the hospital for treatment.
The victim told police the couple had been arguing and he was assaulting her. A couple days earlier she explained he punched her in the head and eye. About a week before that he held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. He told her “she would die that night.” Two weeks earlier he assaulted her after she woke him up. During this incident he struck her before putting both hands on her throat and choking her.
She stated she dislocated her wrist after she fell while running from Windows.
As she was questioned, she was unable to recall details on all of her injuries “due to the frequency and extent of the assaults.”
Officers noted in the affidavit of probable cause that Windows has “a violent history, consisting of several simple assault charges, reckless endangering another person and harassment” which are listed in his criminal record as being domestic violence.
