NEWTON — A Sussex County man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for nearly beating his wife to death by a judge who said he hoped the maximum sentence would serve as a deterrent to others who abuse their spouses.
James Allen Jr., 50, pleaded guilty Feb. 28 to second-degree aggravated assault for beating his wife, Leigh Allen, over a three-day span, from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, 2008, in their secluded Wantage home.
“This sentence will act as a deterrent to those who may act out violently in domestic violence situations,” said Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti, sitting in Newton. “The fact of the matter is that for 20 years this defendant physically abused his wife,” the judge said.
The attacks ended on the day Allen was scheduled to appear in court to be sentenced on an earlier conviction for pointing a gun at his wife, prosecutors have said. He was subsequently given an 18-month prison term.
First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller said the attacks were prompted by statements given by Leigh Allen, who in 2006 called police and “told the entire history” of the physical abuse she had suffered at the hands of her husband during their 25-year marriage. Up until then, she had been uncooperative with investigators, he said.
“This was a crime of retaliation. This was pay back,” said Mueller.
Leigh Allen, 49, who suffered brain damage that will permanently impair her vision and motor skills in the 2008 assaults, did not attend today’s sentencing.
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Speaking briefly on his own behalf, Allen called Mueller’s depiction of the incident “totally inaccurate.” At the time of his arrest, Allen told investigators that his wife suffered the injuries when the couple fell down a flight of stairs while they were both drunk.
“He (Mueller) makes me look like a monster, something that I never was or never will be,” he said.
At part of a plea bargain agreement, charges against Allen for allegedly intentionally crashing his vehicle in a roll-over DWI accident that left his wife’s sister permanently disabled with a broken back were dismissed.
Mueller has said the state’s case against Allen, who was initially charged with first-degree attempted murder, was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. He said there were no eyewitnesses to the assaults and Leigh Allen had no memory of the attacks due to her brain injuries.
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