Man pleads guilty to malicious maiming of girlfriend

By Linda Cicoira

     A Belle Haven man pleaded guilty to malicious maiming Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court in connection with an incident in which his former girlfriend was injured in March of 2021.

     Forty-three-year-old Jeffery Joseph Alther, a construction worker, who lives on Shields Bridge Road, entered the plea in a bargaining agreement with Commonwealth’s Attorney Spencer Morgan. In exchange, a charge of strangulation was not prosecuted, and the active time to serve was capped at three years.

      Morgan said the victim, a Bloxom woman, was treated at the hospital for a fracture in one of the bones in her eye socket following an argument between Alther and his girlfriend in which the defendant hit her with a closed hand.

     Defense lawyer Garrett Dunham said his client had “batted” her away from her phone and pushed her against the wall. Athler “loved her and was certainly not wanting to hurt her. … he is sad that this happened.”

     Judge W. Revell Lewis accepted the agreement. He ordered a presentence report and set sentencing for June 22.