The man accused of brutally attacking Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) reportedly has a criminal history and was released from jail not long before last week's assault.
Craig was attacked last Thursday while riding the elevator at her Washington, D.C., apartment. The motive for the attack is not clear, but Craig later said that she used coffee to defend herself. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured in the attack.
What about the suspect?
On Friday, the Metropolitan Police Department announced the arrest of 26-year-old Kendrick Hamlin for the attack. He was charged with simple assault.
The Washington Free Beacon later obtained Hamlin's criminal record, which revealed he is "no stranger to the D.C. criminal justice system." In fact, just two months ago, Hamlin pled guilty to assaulting a police officer.
From the Free Beacon:
[Hamlin] was arrested last September on two charges of theft for stealing items from a Capitol Hill supermarket, which resulted in a three month saga of stints behind bars and several court appearances, records show. Court documents obtained by the Free Beacon show a man named Kendrid Hamlin [sic] also pled guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer in December last year.
Though there are slight variations of his name in records, a spokesman for the D.C. Courts told the Free Beacon that the arrests were both of the same man. He was ultimately released from custody in December with all charges dropped following a plea agreement.
Records show that Hamlin, after his theft arrest, was released from jail without bail. But he failed to appear in court, so in November, the city issued a warrant for his arrest.
He was re-arrested at the end of November, but released in mid-December "when all charges were dropped against him as part of a plea agreement," the Free Beacon reported.
What about DC?
The shocking assault, and news that Hamlin had been recently arrested — and released — for other alleged crimes, underscores one of the major issues in the nation's capital right now.
Last week, the House voted to overturn a sweeping overhaul of the D.C. criminal code that the City Council approved last year. The plan shows criminals more leniency by, for example, lowering the minimum sentence for serious felonies, including firearm-related crimes, carjackings, and robberies.
More than 30 Democrats, including Craig, joined Republicans to overturn the new D.C. criminal code.
No comments:
Post a Comment