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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
WEDNESDAYS • April 8, 2015
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Richmond & Hampton Roads
LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE
Ex-aide who admitted assaults avoids jail after he becomes a victim KEITH ALEXANDER
She sat in the back of the courtroom, wearing oversize black sunglasses, watching as the former Democratic congressional aide was sentenced for slipping a sedative into her drink and then raping her. It was the summer of 2010, and she had just arrived in Washington as a student intern. When they met, she believed Donny Ray Williams Jr., the longtime aide and former staff director for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, could help her find a job with Congress. But instead, she later told authorities, Williams drugged and assaulted her. “He gave me a random dose of drugs and risked my life,” the woman wrote in a letter read during the D.C. Superior Court hearing last week. “After the assault, I moved away, and he continued to harass me and threatened me to drop the charges. This crime has caused me fear, pain and a financial burden.” In the letter, the woman asked that Williams, who pleaded guilty to assaulting her and another woman and threatening a third person, be given “some jail time.” The other two people were not present in court. But as part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to ask the judge to suspend a 4 1/2-year prison term, meaning Williams will remain free as long as he stays out of trouble. Though the man before them had committed serious offenses, a prosecutor said, he had also suffered as a victim of an unrelated crime. About a year after his arrest on the sex-assault charges, Williams was severely disfigured and badly injured after acid was thrown on his face. Authorities are still investigating the attack, and no arrests have been made. During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Marcus-Kurn said Williams used his position to prey on his victims. “It was done with foresight, intentionally and deliberately,” MarcusKurn said. “The impact on these women is life-
Donny Ray Williams Jr., a former Democratic congressional aide, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two women. His face was disfigured by an unrelated acid attack a year after his arrest. The protrusion on Williams’ head is the result of a rod surgically implanted to stretch the skin and promote healing. PHOTO: Ricky Carioti/WP changing.” But the prosecutor said the defendant’s life also was dramatically changed when he became a victim. She noted that Williams has had more than 20 surgeries, his vision is impaired and he faces additional “life-threatening” surgeries. Judge Robert E. Morin said in court that he reluctantly agreed to suspend the prison term, noting he ultimately concluded the government’s reasoning was “practical and reasonable.”
“He was a victim of an independent crime and has serious medical issues,” Morin said. In addition to the suspended term, he sentenced Williams to five years of supervised probation and ordered him to register as a sex offender for 10 years and undergo counseling. On July 3, 2013, Williams was walking down a Northwest Washington street when a man walked (continued on page 4)