Texas prosecutors are letting a 22-year-old man — accused of kidnapping a woman he met on a dating app and beating and raping her for a for five days — go free in a plea deal that could also expunge his record.
Harris County Criminal Court Judge Genesis Draper approved the deal, and Zachary Kent Mills, 22, was sentenced to two years of probation and 80 hours of community service and has to give a women’s shelter a $50 donation, Law&Crime reported.
Mills was initially charged with felony aggravated kidnapping, but the plea deal requires a guilty plea to a misdemeanor. He also gets a deferred adjudication of guilt, meaning if he doesn’t do any drugs or alcohol and stays away from the victim, he won’t go to prison or have a criminal record.
If he successfully completes the two years of probation, the now misdemeanor charge of assault causing injury will be dismissed.
Mills’ attorney had argued that he and the victim had “a history between them,” something the victim, who said they began a romantic relationship after meeting on the dating app Bumble, did not deny.
After going to his home at one point, however, the victim said Mills immediately “attempted to start to have sexual intercourse with her” and then attacked her and “would not let her leave the residence.”
“[She] advised when he assaulted her, he would strike her using closed fist,” her affidavit said. “Defendant would also bit her on the neck and face. [She] stated when the defendant’s hands got tired from hitting her, he would grab a screwdriver and would strike her with the handle of the screwdriver causing serious bodily injury.”
She also said that Mills would not give her food or water while he held her prisoner. She escaped when Mills went to visit his father.
At a hospital, medical personnel noted she had “severe bruising to both eyes, bite marks and cuts to both her throat and nose, and severe bruising to majority of her body.”
He was released on a $50,000 bond after his arrest, and now he’ll walk completely free from even a criminal record if he makes it through probation.
