A man who was convicted of choking the mother of his baby at her East Cobb home last year has been given a 22-year prison sentence, with 20 to serve.
Derek James Burns, 29, of Carrollton, was sentenced Monday by Cobb Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs, after a jury convicted him last week of aggravated assault (strangulation), false imprisonment, simple battery and simple assault.
According to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, Burns, who has been in jail since the April 2018 incident, will get credit for time served.
Prosecutors said at the trial that Burns and the victim were arguing at her home on Bradford Lane, off Barnes Mill Road, on April 19, 2018. According to testimony, Burns put the woman in a chokehold until she lost conscious and control of her bladder.
Prosectors said the woman realized after she regained consciousness that she had been dragged across the floor and placed in a corner, and said that Burns threatened to shoot her if she looked up or raised her head until he was gone, and would “make it look like a suicide.”
Also testifying at the trial was a former girlfriend of Burns, who said he had choked her, also rendering her unconscious, when they were dating.
Grubbs, who said Burns was “vicious and harmful,” also ordered him to serve the final two years of his term on probation.
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