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She sat in the back of the courtroom, wearing oversize black sunglasses, watching as the former Democratic congressional aide was sentenced for slipping a sedative into her drink and then raping her.
It was the summer of 2010, and she had just arrived in Washington as a student intern. When they met, she believed Donny Ray Williams Jr., the longtime aide and former staff director for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, could help her find a job with Congress. But instead, she later told authorities, Williams drugged and assaulted her.
“He gave me a random dose of drugs and risked my life,” the woman wrote in a letter read during the D.C. Superior Court hearing last week. “After the assault, I moved away, and he continued to harass me and threatened me to drop the charges. This crime has caused me fear, pain and a financial burden.”
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But as part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to ask the judge to suspend a 4 1/2-year prison term, meaning Williams will remain free as long as he stays out of trouble. Though the man before them had committed serious offenses, a prosecutor said, he had also suffered as a victim of an unrelated crime.
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About a year after his arrest on the sex-assault charges, Williams was severely disfigured and badly injured after acid was thrown on his face. Authorities are still investigating the attack, and no arrests have been made.
Here is how he looks now
