Riverhead, NY - November 21, 2013 - A 32 year old Riverhead man was convicted today of all charges in an eleven-count indictment outlining his physical and emotional abuse of his girlfriend who he choked and briefly smothered in an altercation in August of 2012.
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said Travis James, convicted two and one-half years ago of violating orders of protection, is a “serial abuser” who deserves state prison time for his behavior. “Our evidence presented at this bench trial also included proof the defendant repeatedly made harassing phone calls to the victim in violation of the Order of Protection.”
DA Spota said James also “delivered the threatening message to his ex-girlfriend, through an emissary, to not come to court”.
During an argument on August 4, 2012 in the home on Fanning Boulevard James shared with the woman, Spota said the defendant “put both of his hands around her neck and threw her onto her bed,” and, as he pinned her, James “held a throw pillow over her face, obstructing her breathing for several seconds.”
For that attack, the defendant was charged and found guilty of two counts of Aggravated Criminal Contempt, Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation, Criminal Contempt in the First and Second Degrees, and Harassment in the Second Degree. The other criminal contempt charges James was convicted of were for his harassing phone calls in violation of the court order.
The district attorney said James pled guilty to two counts of Criminal Contempt in the First Degree on March 9, 2010 and because of the past conviction will be considered as a prior felony offender at his December 23 sentencing before Judge William Condon. James is incarcerated in lieu of $250,000 cash bail in the Suffolk County Jail.
The defendant Travis James was convicted of these charges on November 21, 2013:
- Aggravated Criminal Contempt PL 215.52(1) - D Felony (minimum 2 to 4 years indeterminate, maximum 3½ to 7 years indeterminate)
- Criminal Contempt in the First Degree PL 215.51(B)(IV) - E Felony (minimum 1½ to 3 years indeterminate, maximum 2 to 4 years indeterminate )
- Criminal Contempt in the First Degree PL 215.51(B)(IV) - EF
- Criminal Contempt in the First Degree PL 215.51(B)(IV) - EF
- Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation PL 121.11(B) - A Misdemeanor
- Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree PL 215.50(3) - AM
- Harassment in the Second Degree PL 240.26(1) – Violation
- Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree PL 215.50(3) - AM
- Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree PL 215.50(3) - AM
- Criminal Contempt in the First Degree PL 215.51(B)(V)- EF
- Aggravated Criminal Contempt PL 215.52(3) - DF