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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A person who attacked a Muslim state consultant outdoors a prayer service in Connecticut pleaded responsible Tuesday to tried sexual assault and different crimes in a plea deal that requires a five-year jail sentence.
Andrey Desmond, 30, appeared in Hartford Superior Court docket in reference to the June 2023 assault on Rep. Maryam Khan, the primary Muslim to serve within the state Home of Representatives. He pleaded responsible to tried third-degree sexual assault, tried first-degree strangulation and danger of damage to a minor — all felonies, Hearst Connecticut Media Group reported.
Khan’s lawyer, Aaron Romano, informed a choose that Khan believed Desmond deserved an extended jail sentence given how critical the assault was. Khan attended the listening to however didn’t remark afterward.
“Consultant Khan is requesting privateness at the moment to course of at this time’s occasions, however she appears to be like ahead to her attacker’s sentencing on June 4,” Romano mentioned in a press release later within the day.
Desmond’s lawyer, public defender John Stawicki, informed Choose David Gold that Desmond wished to apologize to Khan. Desmond held off on apologizing after Gold warned that something he mentioned could possibly be used in opposition to him if the plea settlement ended up being canceled for any cause.
The plea deal would additionally require Desmond, after the jail time period, to register as a intercourse offender, bear counseling and take his medicine.
Court docket information present Desmond, who was residing in New Britain, has a historical past of psychological sickness. After a court-ordered analysis, he was discovered competent to face trial.
Khan, a Democrat from the Hartford suburb of Windsor, had referred to as for hate crime expenses. She was attacked whereas attending a service on the XL Heart enviornment in Hartford together with her household to mark Eid al-Adha, the tip of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage by Muslims to Mecca.
She has mentioned she and her household, together with her 15-year-old daughter, have been taking pictures outdoors the sector when Desmond approached and mentioned he “meant to have sexual relations” with considered one of them.
Desmond then adopted them inside, and Khan mentioned he began to pursue her particularly, grabbing at her face and shirt and demanding a kiss. He adopted her again outdoors and tried to seize her face once more, she mentioned, and have become indignant when she “dodged him.” She mentioned he slapped her throughout the face and later put her in a “chokehold,” holding up his hand and mimicking having a gun earlier than slamming her into the bottom.
Khan mentioned she was identified with a concussion and injured her proper arm and shoulder.
The Related Press doesn’t typically establish individuals who report tried sexual assaults except they publicly establish themselves, as Khan has completed.
Desmond was chased down and held by two bystanders till police arrived and arrested him. One of many bystanders, a navy veteran, was charged with misdemeanor assault and has utilized for a pretrial diversion program that might erase the cost.
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