A Mt. Pleasant man was convicted of assault but a Westmoreland County jury found he did not intend to kill his former girlfriend in 2020.
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According to our partners at TribLIVE.com, 41-year-old Charles Etling was convicted of aggravated assault, strangulation and reckless endangerment of his then-girlfriend.
The victim was beaten, choked until she was unconscious and left in the woods. She was able to crawl over two miles to a local home after regaining consciousness.
Etling’s trial lasted four days and jury deliberations took about three hours.
“I think it’s the right verdict given the evidence. He never had any specific intent to kill her despite the domestic violence,” defense attorney Tim Dawson told our partners at the Trib.
Etling was ordered to remain in jail as he awaits sentencing.
He testified that he punched and strangled his live-in girlfriend in a fit of anger and asked the jury to find him guilty of assault and strangulation offenses.
Prosecutors said Etling’s actions demonstrated an attempt to kill the victim when he left her body in the woods. The victim was found with her lower body unclothed and her face was covered in bruises.
The victim testified that the attack occurred as the couple drove home from West Virginia. She said that on the drive back, after stopping at two bars, Etling became enraged and punched her in the face. He then dragged her out of the vehicle by her hair and strangled her along the side of the road. Her body was then pulled about 50 feet into the woods and Etling drove off, the prosecution said.
“He disposed of her body in the woods like a piece of trash,” Assistant District Attorney Christina Gongaware said in court.
Gongaware argued that Etling had a history of domestic violence toward his former girlfriend and that his actions that night supported homicide charges.
The defense said Etling had other chances to kill the victim if he wanted to do so and that he had no intention of ending her life in June 2020.
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