SPARTANBURG MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ATTACKING HIS GIRLFRIEND

A Spartanburg man received a 10-year prison sentence today after a jury decided that he held his girlfriend down on a bed, held a knife to her throat and threatened to chop her into pieces.

The jury convicted Donald Lyles, 41, of 36 Williams St., of criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature for the May 30, 2003 assault on the 27-year-old woman. Circuit Judge Michael Baxley sentenced Lyles to the maximum penalty allowed under state law. The judge tacked 6 months to the sentence for a probation violation.

The latest assault occurred hours after the couple attended an anger management class. Lyles pulled his 27-year-old woman into the bedroom of her city home and he stuck a knife to her throat. He blocked the door with a chair and he turned the television volume up so victim’s 11-year-old daughter wouldn’t hear the attack. The 11-year-old called police when she realized something was wrong in the bedroom.

“The most egregious thing about the attack is that it occurred with a child in the home right after the couple completed an anger management class,” Assistant Solicitor Cindy Smith said.

Spartanburg Public Safety officers arrested Lyles at the home.

During his incarceration prior to the trial, Lyles wrote a series of letters to his girlfriend. He encouraged her lie to Smith while she prepared the case for court.

“Mr. Lyles thought he knew how to work the system but he was sadly mistaken,” Smith said.

The May assault marked Lyles’ third documented attack on same woman in less than a year. Lyles was charged with criminal domestic violence on Dec. 19 after he was suspected of punching her in the face with a closed fist. He received another domestic violence charge the next day when he was accused of choking her at a home in the city of Duncan.

Both charges are still pending.

Lyles’ criminal record dates back to 1983 with two convictions for second-degree criminal sexual conduct and criminal domestic violence. He is a registered sex offender.

For more information, contact Murray Glenn at 809-4892.