Man Convicted Under Domestic Violence Act Given Life Term

The first person convicted under the federal domestic-violence law--a man who prosecutors say beat his wife bloody, then drove around for six days with her in the trunk of his car--was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Christopher Bailey, 35, of St. Albans was convicted in May of kidnaping and violating the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. He received the maximum 20-year penalty for violating the domestic-violence law and a life sentence for kidnaping.

The year-old domestic-violence law makes it illegal to cross a state line to abuse a spouse or domestic partner.

Prosecutors said Bailey finally took his wife to a hospital after the six days of driving aimlessly across West Virginia and Kentucky.

Sonya Bailey remains in a coma and has been unable to tell investigators what happened.

“I have rarely seen, if ever, a crime that was more heinous,” said U.S. District Judge Charles Haden II.

“Chris Bailey has made my daughter a vegetable,” said Elena Campbell, Sonya Bailey’s mother. “What he did was worse than murder. I want everyone to see what condition this wife-beater left my daughter in.”

Christopher Bailey’s brother, David Bailey, said the verdict will be appealed.

The federal law calls for up to 20 years in prison for inflicting a life-threatening or permanently disfiguring injury, and life in prison if the spouse or partner dies of the abuse.