A Virginia man was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for breaking into his pregnant ex-wife’s home in the middle of the night and then assaulting her, federal prosecutors said.
James Miller, 41, was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of first-degree burglary, simple assault and destruction of property related to the September 2023 break-in.
According to evidence presented in court, Miller broke through the front door of his ex-wife’s Northwest Washington home just before 2 a.m. on Sept. 10.
As soon as he got inside, Miller “charged at his ex-wife and assaulted her by grabbing her by the throat and throwing her to the ground,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said Wednesday. When she got up, Miller “grabbed her by her bathrobe and threw her onto the couch.”
The victim and her 22-year-old daughter — “who witnessed Mr. Miller standing over her mother” — called 911. Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived just a few minutes later and arrested the suspect.
Miller was found guilty by a jury on Jan. 10, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
On Wednesday, Judge Robert A. Salerno sentenced him to five years behind bars.
