New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

Williamsburg man to serve five years for abducting, assaulting family member in New Kent

By Andre Jones | March 16, 2020 5:27 pm

A Williamsburg man will spend the next five years in prison after entering a no contest plea to a single count of abduction and two counts of misdemeanor assault and battery on a family member.

Dillon Dakota Lawson, 28, of the 1500 block of London Company Way, entered the three pleas as part of an agreement reach Monday afternoon in New Kent Circuit Court. A no contest plea stipulates that evidence presented in the trial would be enough to convict the defendant of the crimes.

In a summary of evidence, on July 28, 2019, officers responded to a residence on Holly Fork Road in the Barhamsville area of the county. There, a family member indicated that they and Lawson had gotten over an argument about transportation for the victim to go to work. The argument escalated, with Lawson grabbing the victim’s neck twice and later dragging them by the hair. When Lawson was taking a shower, the victim tried to escape, but was grabbed and pushed once again. The altercation continued into the driveway where the victim was tackled, punched, and pulled multiple times. Eventually, the victim was able to contact a family friend and authorities later arrested the defendant on the charges.

Under the plea agreement, Lawson received a 10-year sentence on the abduction charge, with seven of those years suspended (three years to serve). He will serve the complete 12-month sentence on each of the two misdemeanor assault charges.