BOSTON, Dec. 22, 2005 – A Boston man admitted today to cutting his ex-girlfriend’s throat during a home invasion and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.CHRISTOPHER CHANEY, 35 (D.O.B. 7/20/70) pled guilty to charges of armed assault with intent to murder, home invasion, and aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the Feb. 24 attack. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball also sentenced Chaney to five years’ probation after he completes his sentence.
Had the case gone to trial, Assistant District Attorney Holly Broadbent would have presented evidence showing that on the night of Feb. 23, Chaney let himself into the victim’s Roxbury apartment, waited for her, and attacked her.
The victim, then 30, was not home, but two of her friends were at the apartment babysitting her 13-year-old son. Before going out, the victim gave the friends instructions to not let Chaney into the apartment if he came by. But the friends fell asleep; when they woke, they found that Chaney had let himself into the apartment and was waiting for the victim, who had recently ended their four-year dating relationship.
When the victim returned, she argued with Chaney over his coming into the apartment. Chaney refused to leave, and eventually the victim fell asleep in the living room.
In the early morning hours, the victim awoke to see Chaney standing over her, holding an object. She realized at once that he had sliced her throat. Chaney fled; the victim tried to run out of the apartment but collapsed, and her friends came to her aid. Medical personnel rushed the victim to the Boston Medical Center, where she underwent surgery to repair severed veins in her neck.
The next day, Boston police developed information that Chaney was staying at the Holiday Inn Express on Boston Street. Police rushed to the hotel and arrested Chaney there; he had with him a newspaper article about the attack and a one-way train ticket to Alabama.
Prosecutors requested a 20-year sentence followed by 10 years’ probation.
