Donny Ray Williams, Jr.: Ex-Hill Staffer Avoids Jail Time For Sexual Assault Because He’s Now A Victim

In 2014, Donny Ray Williams, Jr., a former staff director for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of two female colleagues. According to the Washington Post, Williams was accused of giving the one of the victims a sedatives and raping her. Although he initially claimed the sexual encounters were consensual, he later pleaded gilty to sexually assaulting the two women and threatening another.

“He gave me a random dose of drugs and risked my life,” one of the women wrote in a letter read during the D.C. Superior Court hearing on Apr. 3. “After the assault, I moved away, and he continued to harass me and threatened me to drop the charges. This crime has caused me fear, pain and a financial burden.”

In the letter, the female victim also requested that Williams be given “some jail time,” but unfortunately, the outcome didn’t pan out that way. Williams received a reprieve for the heinous crimes he committed. As part of a plea deal prosecutors presented to the judge, Williams’ four-and-a-half year prison sentence sentence was suspended.

As long as he stays out of trouble he’s a free man. Since Williams’ legal team argued that he is now a victim himself, he received what most have considered a “slap on the wrist,” with five years of supervised probation. He has also been ordered to undergo counseling and register as a sex offender, but he will not serve time behind bars. Apparently, someone wasn’t exactly pleased with the outcome of the case, so they sought a different form of retribution.

Almost a year after Williams’ arrest for on charges of sexual assault, he was assaulted. It has been reported that Williams was injured by a man he personally believes was an ex-boyfriend of a woman he’d been dating. However, the speculation has yet to be confirmed. The man allegedly doused Williams with a brown substance he initially thought was hot coffee. He soon learned the substance that had been thrown in his face was much more lethal than hot coffee. It was later confirmed that the substance was acid.

Former #Democrat Aide #DonnyRayWilliamsJr., Disfigured By Acid Attack, Skirts Prison For Sexually Assaulting 2 Women http://t.co/flINCK3WML

— HNGN (@HNGNcom) April 7, 2015

The horrific acid attack has left Williams disfigured with numerous injuries. His attorneys revealed he was hospitalized for more than a month following the vicious assault. He’s now blind in one eye and has undergone numerous “life-threatening” surgeries to correct the damage and disfigurement he suffered from the attack. Williams also has a large protrusion on his head because of a metal rod that has been inserted to stretch his skin, reports the Huffington Post.

The judgment has sparked controversy because many readers feel Williams should still be held accountable for his actions regardless of his condition. Even though he was victimized, some feel he should have still received jail time for the crimes he committed. Others simply argued that although Williams’ actions grant no form of justification for his suffering, he should have still faced jail time. Local authorities have made no arrests in relation to Williams’ attack.

Here are some of the comments:

“He should have to pay for his crimes, regardless of his suffering from another unrelated incident!”

“He may very well have deserved it. But that’s the kind of thing we read about happening in third world countries, and it’s appalling enough to hear about in those dumps. One of the things that is supposed to make the US a great place is the way we deal with slime like the date-rape-druggist. The guy who did it is still out and about…what if you decide to hit on his girlfriend next? Not that I have any sympathy to give either…I just can’t stand to see encouragement of something like throwing acid on someone’s face, regardless of why.”

“I would never encourage someone to attack another person but I just can’t work up a bit of sympathy for this guy. Karma’s a you know what.”

Do you think Donny Ray Williams should have received time in prison for sexual assault? Share your thoughts.

[Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images]