Charles Girdner

The Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit has announced a guilty plea for a Bell County man charged in connection with a brutal attack against a woman.

Charles Girdner, 25, of Pineville, has pleaded guilty to assault second degree-domestic violence (Class C felony), strangulation second degree (Class D felony), resisting arrest (Class A misdemeanor), and bail jumping first degree (Class D felony), according to a release for Attorney General Russell Coleman.

In January 2022 Girdner attacked the victim with a knife. Using his hands, he then strangled the woman until she lost consciousness. He later resisted arrest by Bell County deputies, according to the plea agreement filed in Bell Circuit Court.

Girdner was indicted in 2024 on bail jumping for failing to appear in court. After being released from jail on the 2022 felony charges, he was ordered to appear back in court but was at large for over a year.

According to the plea agreement, the Commonwealth recommended a total of 12 years in prison for Girdner on all charges.

In January of this year, Attorney General Coleman released Kentucky’s first ever toolkit to combat strangulation. The manual, “Responding to Strangulation in Kentucky: Guidelines for Prosecutors, Law Enforcement, Health Care Providers and Victim Advocates” is one of the first of its kind across the country.

Coleman praised the resource manual and the work of prosecutors on securing Girdner’s guilty plea.

“Prosecutors, law enforcement and medical professionals in Kentucky take domestic violence and strangulation seriously. We’ll continue using the full extent of the laws passed by the General Assembly to go after these violent criminals and to protect victims,” he said. “I’m proud of the collaborative efforts to pursue justice in this case.”

The Bell County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant Attorney General Barbara Maines Whaley prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth.

Sentencing for Girdner has been scheduled for July 31.