On Thursday, the guy who attacked Representative Angie Craig earlier this year in her Washington, DC, apartment complex was given a 27-month jail sentence.
In June, Kendrid Hamlin entered a plea of guilty to three charges, including assault on a member of Congress and assault on two law enforcement officials.
Hamlin’s counsel argued at sentencing that his client was dealing with drug addiction, homelessness, and a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other mental disability at the time of the assault.
Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, stated in a victim impact statement that her emotional and mental healing from the incident “is ongoing.”
“While this case has received much attention because I am a Member of Congress, that morning I was simply a woman who was followed into a lift by a man and assaulted there,” Craig wrote.
Hamlin allegedly followed Craig into the lift of her building and then demanded that Craig accompany him to her flat, as detailed in a sentencing memorandum filed by the prosecution.
According to the memorandum, after she instructed Hamlin to leave the lift, he pushed and shoved Craig and then punched her in the jaw. The congresswoman was being restrained by Hamlin from leaving the lift when Craig flung the boiling coffee over her shoulder at him.
According to the statement, Hamlin eventually escaped the premises and fought police after his arrest, biting one officer in the shoulder.
In her letter, Craig said she hoped Hamlin would receive the mental health and additional services “that would allow him to become a productive member of society.” Until such support and resources are made available, she said, “I believe he would continue to be a further threat to others.”
Craig further claimed that she had to relocate “for targeted security concerns” after the attack and that she had received a “flurry” of death threats in response to “comments by media personalities about my assault.”
Hamlin’s parents and other relatives were there for his sentence on Thursday.
Harriet Hawkins, his mother, testified at court that the thought of her son causing harm to another person was her biggest worry. “My family and I definitely apologise” to Craig, she told him.
Hawkins said she’d hunt for Hamlin in the streets of Washington, DC, before dawn, and that she’s been doing so for the past 27 years.
Hawkins told the judge, “I don’t want to lose another one,” when pleading for mental health and rehabilitation treatment for Hamlin as part of his punishment.
At the sentencing hearing for Hamlin on Thursday, Chief Judge James Boasberg acknowledged the difficulty in doing so due to Hamlin’s mental health issues, but he continued, “I also need to protect our community.”
When handing down the punishment, Boasberg also noted Hamlin’s criminal history, which the top judge stated included assaultive behaviour.