A Lawrence County judge sentenced an Alabama man to 10 1/2 to 22 years in a state correctional institution after a jury convicted him of trying to strangle his girlfriend during an argument. The man represented himself at trial and reportedly laughed during portions of the proceedings before the sentence came down.
Alfonza Hurt Walker was convicted in a domestic violence trial on Sept. 21, according to New Castle News. Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge William Flannery, who presided over Walker's jury trial, imposed the sentence for his aggression when he tried to strangle his now-former girlfriend. Walker was convicted of second-degree felony strangulation and misdemeanor simple assault, and he was sentenced consecutively to an additional six months to two years on the assault charge.
Walker refused legal counsel and represented himself throughout the case, with Joseph Oliva serving as his standby public defender, the outlet reports. Prosecutor Julieane Swain handled the case for the commonwealth. During sentencing, the victim gave an impact statement to the court describing continuing trauma from the attack, and Flannery ordered Walker to have absolutely no contact with her going forward.
A Violent History Followed Him From Alabama
According to the police report cited by the outlet, Walker had come to Lawrence County the previous year while on parole from Bay Minette, Alabama. He was under supervised parole when he left Alabama for New Castle. Four days after arriving, he reportedly assaulted his on-again, off-again girlfriend by trying to strangle her at an address on Halco Drive.
Walker had previously served prison time in Alabama for an attempted homicide conviction tied to a 2020 shooting, and he was released from prison the previous year. He was initially charged with attempted homicide in that case but ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, a Class B felony. Separately, on May 22, 2025, he was charged with arrest prior to requisition for the Alabama parole violation, and he is now awaiting an extradition hearing on that matter.
Prosecutors Point to Mandatory Minimums
Swain said the court was asked to impose a mandatory sentence because Walker's local conviction was a second-degree felony and he already had a prior Alabama conviction for a crime of violence. Under that framework, Swain said a second-offense crime of violence carries a minimum of 10 years on the strangulation count alone. The Lawrence County District Attorney's Office wants the public to know that domestic violence cases, especially those involving strangulation, are prosecuted seriously.
Swain said her office regards felony strangulation charges as important because of homicide statistics and the broader risks tied to intimate-partner violence. Pennsylvania law defines strangulation as knowingly or intentionally impeding another person's breathing or blood circulation, whether by applying pressure to the throat or neck or by blocking the nose and mouth, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Under that statute, physical injury is not required to establish the offense, and the absence of a visible injury is not a defense.
Strangulation as a Pattern, Not a One-Time Act
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence has said abusers often use non-fatal strangulation as a tactic to terrorize and control their victims. The organization has also reported that 119 victims died from domestic violence incidents in Pennsylvania in a recent year, underscoring why prosecutors treat strangulation charges with particular weight.
Lengthy sentences in strangulation and domestic-violence cases have surfaced elsewhere in Pennsylvania this year. In Lehigh County, a 31-year-old man was sentenced to 10 to 20 years for a 2024 domestic assault and witness-intimidation case that reportedly involved 1,200 phone calls placed to the victim from jail, according to pennlive.com. Walker's case now joins that pattern, with his extradition hearing in the unrelated Alabama matter still pending.
