Man Receives Tougher Sentence In Strangulation Of His Child's Mother: Prosecutor

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A 43-year-old man has been sentenced and will serve 16 years in prison on a felony strangulation conviction after he abused Jessica Farley for hours in a hotel room in front of their 6-year-old son on Dec. 20, 2022.

“I was four seconds away from dying in front of my child,” Farley said at a news conference. “I did not want to raise a child in domestic violence. I did not want my son to hurt anyone when he got older. I wanted my kid to be a happy, vibrant child and I was ruining it for him by bringing him back into this situation."

The incident happened last December at the Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor. According to court documents, Bruce Godfrey abused Farley, took her phone and her son’s Apple watch, and held her and their son against their will. Their son begged him not to kill his mother while Farley lost consciousness, documents revealed. Farley said at the news conference with Braveboy that the abuse had persisted for years and she had used makeup and worn sunglasses to hide previous attacks.

“He locked the door, said that he was going to kill her and he’d be the only one coming out alive from that room,” said Carolyn Mills, Prince George’s County’s assistant state’s attorney.

When Godfrey fell asleep, Farley was able to alert hotel staff, who then contacted police. According to the hotel staff’s 911 call, she instructed police not to knock on the door, but instead, come inside without warning. Officers then were able to rescue Farley and her son, court documents showed.

According to prosecutors, Farley had broken blood vessels in her eyes along with scratches and bruising on her throat and body.

Godfrey was charged with a felony because state lawmakers passed legislation in 2020 making strangulation a felony instead of a misdemeanor. Defendants face up to 25 years in prison under the new law versus up to 10 in prison under the previous law.

“If he were sentenced under the second-degree assault statute, his guidelines would have been three to eight years. Because strangulation is now a first-degree felony, his guidelines were 10 to 20 years. In this case, Mr. Godfrey received a 25-year sentence, but he has to serve 16 years of that sentence. That’s very significant. A victim of strangulation is seven-to-eight times more likely to end up being a victim of homicide,” said Aisha Braveboy, Prince George’s County’s state attorney, at the news conference. “Let’s work together until we zero out domestic violence.”

Farley said she recently won custody of her son, will start a new job soon and plans to graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University next May with her bachelor’s degree. Farley said at the news conference that she hopes to start a small business.