Cayden Dalton, a former College student charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend after last year’s Wertland Street Block Party, was sentenced to 18 months in jail Thursday.
Dalton — who is no longer enrolled at the University — pled guilty in Charlottesville Circuit Court in January to charges of felony abduction and felony unlawful wounding. The former carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, the latter five.
Dalton was arrested at the 400 block of 13th Street the morning of Aug. 26 after Charlottesville police responded to a 2 a.m. call from his ex-girlfriend, a University student. There, he was charged with misdemeanor assault, felony strangulation and felony abduction.
At the January hearing, Areshini Pather, deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Charlottesville, testified that Dalton arrived at his ex-girlfriend’s residence visibly drunk after she did not respond to his text messages the night of the assault. After she drove him home, Dalton prevented his ex-girlfriend from leaving.
Pather said Dalton accused his ex-girlfriend of cheating, shouting insults at her. After his ex-girlfriend threw a glass of water in his face, Dalton choked the victim from behind, Pather testified.
He then reportedly jammed his fingers into his ex-girlfriend’s mouth, bruising the back of her trachea. He also repeatedly banged her head on the floor, bruising her neck and causing hemorrhaging in her eyes, Pather said.
Pather said Dalton told police officers in his initial interview that he wished she had died.
Judge Humes J. Franklin sentenced Dalton to the maximum sentences — 10 years, all suspended, for abduction, and five years, with three years and six months suspended, for unlawful wounding. The suspensions entail a 13 year, six month delay in Dalton’s serving of his sentence, during which he performs a probationary period. In most suspended sentences, if the defendant does not break the law and meets the conditions of probation, the judge waives the sentence.
Upon release, Dalton will be on supervised probation for three years and must have good behavior for 10 years, without any contact with the victim.
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