COURT
UVa kidnapper sentenced to 25 years behind bars
James Robert Allen apologized for his crimes and his wife begged for mercy, but to no avail

Hawes Spencer Aug 28, 2024

The traveling highway worker who pleaded guilty to an attack that nearly claimed the life of a University of Virginia student last year apologized profusely in a Charlottesville courtroom Tuesday, but his words didn’t sway the judge, who imposed a sentence well above voluntary guidelines. ... Judge Claude Worrell sentenced 41-year-old Suffolk resident James Robert Allen to a 15-year active sentence for malicious wounding and 10 years for abduction, a 25-year total that left his attorney stunned.

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Allen

The latter recalled the phone call she received Oct. 4 after her daughter was attacked on the corner of Rugby Road and Burnley Avenue in the city’s Venable neighborhood, bound with duct tape and carried into Allen’s truck. She was only freed after a University of Virginia professor’s family overheard the commotion and gave chase. At some point, Allen lost control of the vehicle, grazing multiple cars on the roadside and slamming into a tree in the yard of a fraternity house at the intersection of Grady and Cabell avenues. ... “No parent wants this phone call,” the mother testified. ... Her daughter was so traumatized that she retreated from male police officers on the scene and, while getting treated at UVa Medical Center, initially refused to see her own father. .

“This man took my daughter’s innocence away,” her mother testified. “We do not want this man to do this horrific offense to our daughter or anyone else ever again.” ... Family members supportively patted the shoulders of the young woman seated in the front row of the gallery before she took the stand Tuesday. ... “James Allen changed my life forever,” she testified. “This near-death experience has impacted every aspect of my life.” ... She said she developed post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and depression. She said she has hallucinated that strangers are following her and even that her own parents were conspiring to kill her. She spoke of friendships strained by her new phobias, and she cried as she completed her testimony.

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Hawes Spencer (434) 960-9343
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