Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
A Bryson City man is in custody after an altercation where he threatened a woman with a pistol and strangled her.
Joel Carroll King, 45, of 264 Fox Run Cove, Bryson City, was charged on March 27 with two felony counts of assault inflicting serious injury by strangulation, and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon causing serious injury.
Charges stemmed from an incident occurring on March 26 when King allegedly assaulted a woman with a 9mm pistol inflicting serious injury, according to a magistrate’s order on file with Swain County Clerk’s Office.
The assault also left the victim with visible red marks on her neck, after King apparently wrapped his arms around her throat causing her to have trouble breathing. A second charge is from straddling the victim and wrapping his hands around her throat. This time, he caused the woman to pass out from the strangulation.
“J.C.” King has worked for the District Attorney’s Office in Swain County since January 2014 as a District Attorney Legal Assistant. He has been terminated from the position, according to District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch’s office.
King was being held at Jackson County Detention Center and SCSD had North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations handle the investigation. King bonded out on March 28. The bond was $5,000.
He is scheduled to appear in Swain County Court on April 5. Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams has agreed to oversee the case.