STARKVILLE — A former Mississippi State University student who admitted to choking a freshman coed last fall in a campus dormitory is set to be sentenced today in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court.
Christopher E. Floyd, 18, of Holly Springs, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of aggravated assault and now faces up to 20 years in prison.
The incident took place Sept. 12, 2008, when an 18-year-old female student was attempting to leave Cresswell Hall on the Mississippi State University campus. The student then encountered Floyd who, for an unknown reason, choked her until she was unconscious, according to court records.
“I thought I would have died when I couldn”t breathe anymore and I couldn”t do anything about it,” the victim wrote in an impact statement. “This situation has made me very conscious of my surroundings and who I speak to since I did not even know him beyond a name, and for this to happen is very scary for me.”
The victim, now 19, awoke several seconds after she was released by Floyd and did not require medical attention. Roughly a dozen people witnessed the attack.
Floyd”s sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the courtroom of Judge Lee Howard.
In other court business, a Starkville man who pleaded guilty Monday to one count of statutory rape was to be sentenced this morning.
Judge Jim Kitchens was set to sentence Lakorian Stewart, 20, today at 9 a.m. Stewart faces a minimum of 20 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections system, Judge Kitchens said Monday.
The charge stems from an incident on May 27, 2008, when Stewart and the then 13-year-old victim ran into each other on an undisclosed street.
Stewart, who had just turned 18 on May 26, 2008, then took the girl to a nearby apartment and they engaged in consensual sex, District Attorney Forest Allgood said. They had known each other for “a few days,” Stewart said Monday, though Allgood said the victim told him they had known each other for three months.
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