Man pleads guilty to videotaped assault

The sound of crickets and white noise filled the Charlottesville Circuit courtroom Monday, broken only by the occasional loud, unidentifiable noise.
And then a man’s voice came from the television. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the man said, playing to the camera, before he sexually assaulted a woman on film.
The judge squished up his face in disgust, looking at the clock several times during the scene. The prosecutor sat in a chair, her hand covering one cheek and her eyes diverted. Timothy James Hoffman, the man in the video, sat across the room in handcuffs with his head down.

The video was shown as part of the evidence against Hoffman, who pleaded guilty Monday to unlawful filming and object sexual penetration. Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire accepted Hoffman’s plea agreement, under which other charges won’t be prosecuted.
Hoffman, 24, could face up to life in prison at sentencing April 27. As part of the plea agreement, there is no agreement as to sentence and Hoffman must undergo a sex offender evaluation.

At the start of the video, which was angled away from the courtroom audience, a man and woman can be heard. At one point, the man tells the woman that there’s a bucket by her head. Loud coughing can be heard.
According to a search warrant filed in June 2008 in Charlottesville Circuit Court, the victim told police she had two drinks that night at a local club and felt sick. Her last memories include hugging the toilet bowl, the warrant said.

Court documents show that the victim was unaware of the video and the incident until she found it in his belongings a few days later. Katherine J. Peters, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said in court the victim popped the video into a player, then became sick during her first attempt at watching it.
According to the search warrant, the victim recognized herself on film by a costume she had bought for a Madonna-themed event at the club.
Richard Davis, Hoffman’s defense attorney, said in court that the victim in the video did not appear to be able to consent.

The victim later confronted Hoffman about the video, Peters said in court, after which Hoffman slashed his wrists and went outside while bleeding profusely.
“‘Leave me alone,’” Peters said in court, reading what Hoffman reportedly said. “‘I want to die. I have done some bad things.’”
The victim told authorities that Hoffman had a proclivity for filming, Peters said in court. Hoffman and the victim were in a relationship and he cared for her children at one time.

The prosecutor said in court that the victim is “100 percent” in agreement with the plea agreement.