A Brooklyn man was found guilty Tuesday of orchestrating — and then participating in — a bloody attack on his seven-months-pregnant girlfriend that left their unborn baby daughter dead.
Torey Branch, wearing a three-piece suit, looked tearfully back at his family after the judge revoked his bail and a court officer slapped cuffs on him. He faces up to 33 years in prison for the vicious assault when he’s sentenced on March 1.
Mia Jones, who suffered severe injuries during the merciless beating was present for the verdict, and held back tears as justice was served.
Jones had testified that Branch and another, unidentified accomplice, ambushed her in the narrow hallway of her Crown Heights apartment building after she repeatedly refused “abortion appointments” he’d made, and threatened to tell the woman who is now his fiancee that she was with child.
The two masked men beat Jones ruthlessly in an attack that was caught on surveillance video, punching her in the stomach, head and face until she passed out. At that point, she and Branch had been dating off and on for nine years.
Branch researched the attack for weeks prior, experts testified, scouring the Internet 51 times for answers to such questions as: “Can being hit in the stomach cause a miscarriage?” and “What happens if you get hit in the stomach while pregnant?”
The jury deliberated for three full days before finding him guilty on charges of forced abortion, burglary with intent to cause injury, and assault. He was found not guilty on a lesser assault charge. Justice Alexander Jeong presided.
Branch’s fiancee attempted to approach him after the verdict, and was told by a court officer to sit back down. She was later seen sobbing in the lobby of the courthouse.
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson called Branch a “coward,” and Assistant District Attorney Joanna Lettieri told the court she would be submitting a sentencing recommendation that Branch serve the maximum amount of time possible.
Jones declined comment as she left court.