XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.obama, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.states.indiana   
   From: democrats@caused.it   
      
   CROWN POINT — A former Lake County councilman has agreed to plead guilty in   
   a 2019 domestic battery case for a sentence that would demand no jail time,   
   according to Lake Criminal Court records.   
      
   Lake Criminal Court Judge Natalie Bokota was prepared to accept the plea   
   agreement and sentence Jamal Washington, 51, who pleaded guilty to criminal   
   confinement, a felony, and domestic battery, a misdemeanor, to an agreed   
   term of three-and-a-half years in jail suspended and served on probation.   
      
   However, upon hearing a victim impact statement in court, Bokota decided she   
   wanted to take the plea under advisement and set Washington's sentencing   
   over to Aug. 30. Washington had been set to stand trial in the case until   
   the plea was negotiated earlier this summer.   
      
   In the plea agreement, filed earlier this month, Washington admitted he   
   struck former Gary Councilwoman LaVetta Sparks-Wade and held her against her   
   will at her home between Jan. 29 and 30, 2019.   
      
   Washington and Sparks-Wade were in a verbal argument in a bedroom when   
   Washington grabbed her phone and threw it at her, the plea agreement said.   
      
   The phone struck her lip and caused an injury, the agreement said, and he   
   prevented her from leaving the bedroom.   
      
   Washington and Sparks-Wade were dating at the time and lived together in her   
   home, according to the plea.   
      
   If Bokota accepts the plea, prosecutors will dismiss additional charges   
   against Washington, including another count of criminal confinement,   
   domestic battery, domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury and   
   intimidation, the plea agreement said.   
      
   Washington must enroll and complete a Batterers Intervention Program as a   
   condition of the plea. He agreed to enter into a No Contact Order with   
   Sparks-Wade. If the plea is accepted and he successfully completes the   
   terms, he can petition the court to modify the felony conviction to a   
   misdemeanor.   
      
   Washington has two previous domestic battery convictions, court records   
   show. A jury found Washington guilty of misdemeanor domestic battery and   
   interference with reporting a crime in November 2018 after he assaulted his   
   cousin in 2017 during a dispute at his Merrillville home. He was found not   
   guilty of multiple felony offenses.   
      
   He avoided prison time and was sentenced to probation, online court records   
   show.   
      
   Washington pleaded guilty in another battery case in 2016, this one   
   involving his ex-wife and a female employee. He received one year in jail   
   suspended on probation, online court records show.   
      
   https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-courts/former-lake-county-   
   councilman-could-avoid-jail-time-yet-again-in-third-domestic-battery-case-   
   jamal-washington-crime-courts/article_9233d210-486e-11ef-8a38-   
   174475d86f3a.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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