Via FacebookA D.C. Superior Court jury today convicted Tommy Branch, a resident of Fort Washington, Md., on 11 counts for his role in a brutal attack last August on a man walking through Capitol Hill that left the victim with brain damage and other severe injuries.
Thomas C. Maslin, a 29-year-old father of a young child, was walking home late last Aug. 18 from a bar he stopped at following a Washington Nationals game when he was jumped by three individuals who robbed him of his iPhone and wallet and brutally attacked him using a baseball bat. Maslin was left bloodied and bruised; bystanders discovered him lying on the ground near Eastern Market.
Maslin suffered severe brain and other traumatic injuries in the attack, and faces a long recovery, including learning to speak again.
Branch, 22, was convicted on charges of aggravated assault and robbery, both against Maslin and in another assault carried out a few hours later. Branch was arrested about 3:20 a.m. after he and his two accomplices carried out the second attack. Maslin, meanwhile, was not discovered until a passerby found him lying in the street with a massive skull fracture about 8:15 in the morning.
One of Maslin’s other attackers, 19-year-old Michael Moore, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and testified against Branch as part of a plea deal. The third defendant, Sonny Kuti, has a separate trial.
Moore’s trial opened last week, and included testimony from his wife, Abigail, who described in vivid detail the trauma her husband suffered and continues to recover from.
“Tommy Branch used an aluminum baseball bat to put a young father into a coma,” Ron Machen, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a news release today. “Today’s jury verdict is a reflection of our community’s outrage over random acts of violence and our determination to hold criminals accountable.”
Branch is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2 and faces a maximum sentence of 105 years in prison.
