(Hartford, CT) – Sharmese L. Walcott, State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford, today announced that the Honorable Michael J. Gustafson on November 14, 2024, sentenced Danny Lawhorn, Jr., age 33, of Hartford to 10 years in prison, suspended after four years served, and 10 years of probation. Lawhorn also was ordered to register with the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry.
A jury in Hartford Superior Court on September 20, 2024, found Lawhorn guilty of Sexual Assault in the Second Degree, in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-71(a)(9).
According to evidence introduced at the trial, on June 13, 2021, the Hartford Police Department was dispatched to a hotel for a report of a sexual assault. The victim was identified as an international basketball player who was being hosted and coached by the defendant, a coach and manager for a local AAU basketball league. The victim reported that on that night, the defendant sent her a text message requesting that she come to his room to assist with stretching following a practice and the defendant playing in a tournament. The victim reported that it was during that encounter that the defendant sexually assaulted her. She was able to flee the home with the assistance of a family member. Once at a safe location, the hotel staff assisted her by calling the local police. Later that morning, Hartford Police made an on-sight arrest of Lawhorn. The police also found Lawhorn to be in possession of crack cocaine, packaged for sale. He pleaded guilty to federal felony drug charges in U.S. District Court and was later sentenced.
State’s Attorney Walcott said the Hartford Police Department officers were responsive at the time of the incident through completion of the trial. “Hartford police did a wonderful job responding to a prompt report and quickly unfolding investigation,” she said. This case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Meredith Clark and State’s Attorney Walcott, with the assistance of Inspectors Luis Rodriguez and Carlos Ocasio, and Paralegal Specialists Kelly Randall, Lakisha Malave and Antoine Campbell.
State’s Attorney Walcott stated, “This case highlights this office’s commitment to prosecuting cases of sexual assault that occur in the Hartford Judicial District. The victim in this case has endured many accusations against her character and credibility and in the end, she told the judge, ‘I am not broken,’ and went on to list her many accomplishments since this incident. Assistant State’s Attorney Clark and I are thankful to have been able to bring justice to a youth who had her innocence taken, without her consent.”