Wife defends husband who assaulted her

Circuit Judge Paul Braden sentenced a Williamsburg man to 15 years in prison Monday morning for allegedly assaulting his wife nearly two years ago and severely injuring her, however, the wife claims that it was an accident.
“I’m sorry for what I did. It was never my intention to hurt my wife,” Kevin J. Claxton told Braden during the sentencing hearing.
Braden credited Claxton with 100 days in jail, which he has already served in the case, and informed him that he has 30 days to file an appeal, if he chooses to do so.
The jury convicted Claxton on March 30 of assault stemming from an April 24, 2004 incident involving Teresa Claxton.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Stephens said Claxton’s wife claimed on the witness stand that her husband didn’t assault her.
“She testified on his behalf at trial saying that it was an accident,” Stephens said. “She said she couldn’t really remember what happened, but that she didn’t believe he had done it.
“Eyewitness testimony was that he had thrown her around like a rag doll and beaten her. Those injuries that were shown could not have been caused by an accident, and the jury didn’t believe her or him that it was an accident.”
Stephens said emergency workers attempted to intubate Teresa Claxton in an effort to save her life on the day of the incident, but were unable to get the tube down her throat due to her injuries, and were forced to do the procedure differently. Teresa Claxton suffered head and other injuries.
“It was just a very graphic and horrible case,” Stephens noted.
In a letter sent to the News Journal late last month, Teresa Claxton reiterated her claims that the matter was simply an accident, and that she wanted “mercy” and probation for her husband.
“This incident was between my husband and myself. We were unaware and too intoxicated to realize the danger that lie ahead of us,” Teresa Claxton wrote in the letter. “My husband has always been good to me and would never hurt me. This was an absolute bizarre accident that was not intended to happen.
“In the past two years, we have gotten our lives together. We have built a house, not much to a lot of people, but its ours and means a lot to us. Our family has really been blessed. As any married couple, we have our problems. He has never tried to hit or hurt me in any way and he never would.”
Claxton wrote that since the trial, she and her husband have made a vow to never drink again.
“A few hours of so-called pleasure could not compare to that amount of time apart. If we don’t have each other. We have no one, only God in heaven. Like the lawyers said in discussing the case, sometimes it takes a serious incident such as this to make people realize their wrongs and to change their ways,” she wrote.