Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) has requested adequate sentencing for the man who assaulted her in Washington, D.C. earlier this year.
Ms. Craig issued the request to a federal judge, stating the man who attacked her in the elevator of her apartment complex in February should be held accountable, and that this should be reflected in the punishment.
The alleged attacker, Kendrid Hamlin, has an extensive record of prior arrests. Charges against him include punching, trapping, and injuring Ms. Craig, for which he will face sentencing on Nov. 16, reported CBS.
According to Ms. Craig, the assault has taken a toll on both her and her family.
“He grabbed my neck and slammed me into the steel wall. He punched me in the face,” she wrote in a victim-impact statement, which was submitted ahead of the hearing.
She went on to say that the traumatic incident persists to be of concern to her family members, who are worried for her mental health and safety.
Moreover, Ms. Craig said that in addition to the psychological and emotional trauma the incident left her with, she had also received death threats and doxing, due to the media attention following the assault, from which she is still recovering.
According to CBS, D.C. District Chief Judge James Boasberg, who presides over the case, will receive a motion from federal prosecutors to jail Mr. Hamlin for at least 39 months.
Mr. Hamlin already confessed in June to charges that he injured Ms. Craig by punching her in the jaw. On top of this, the Justice Department will likely put Mr. Hamlin’s extensive criminal record in the spotlight.
“In addition to his convictions for violent conduct, he has at least nine prior additional arrests for violent or threatening conduct … the defendant’s actions have also shown that he is unwilling to abide by conditions of release, justifying the need for a significant sentence to incarceration,” according to a memo submitted by prosecutors to the judge prior to the sentencing hearing.
The incident, however, was not an isolated one. In the past year, amid rising crime rates, there has been an increase in malicious assaults against state representatives and lawmakers, as well as their families.
In May, two staff members of Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly were assaulted at his Fairfax, Virginia, office. This was preceded by a 2022 assault on then-speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, in their California home, although neither Mr. Connolly nor Mrs. Pelosi were present during the attacks.
In Ms. Craig’s case, the prosecution will likely argue that a simple daily routine was turned into a harrowing nightmare by the attacker.
“The defendant’s early morning assault of woman in her own apartment building elevator transformed an everyday ritual, going to get a morning cup of coffee, into a traumatic ordeal that has caused lasting emotional damage,” as reported by CBS.
In an interview with CBS in February, Ms. Craig said Mr. Hamlin had pursued her into an elevator, then trapped her with the intent of gaining access to her apartment.
According to the interview, Mr. Hamlin was acting erratic, as if under the influence of some type of narcotic.
“All I could do was throw my coffee over my shoulder, which startled him. But as soon as he regained, he came back toward me, and again, it was only until we got to the floor the elevator was headed to that I was able to escape,” Ms. Craig told CBS, adding that she was his 13th assault victim.
“And I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure there’s not a 14, a 15, a 20,” she said.