HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona man will spend five years on probation after pleading guilty Tuesday to strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child.

Rasoul Hamin Du Speight, 44, who was expected to appear in Blair County court this week, pleaded guilty before Senior Judge Richard A. Lewis of Dauphin County, who was assigned to preside over the three-day trial.

Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Mays and Chief Public Defender Russ Montgomery presented the negotiated plea and presented the sentencing recommendation to Lewis, allowing the trial to be canceled and the summoned jurors to be dismissed.

Mays said Tuesday that the victim supports the proposed resolution. It also required Speight to enroll in an anger management course and receive violent offender counseling, Mays said.

Altoona police arrested Speight on Feb. 17, 2024, after responding to a report of a domestic fight involving a man, woman and children in the 900 block of 29th Street.

The charges show Speight became angry at the woman, who was 9 months pregnant, after she took her 1-year-old child from Speight and started putting him to bed. Police said the argument between the couple escalated into a physical fight, and Speight is accused of grabbing the woman by the hair, pushing her against the wall, hitting her in the face and wrapping his hands around her neck, making it difficult for her to breathe. as evidenced by his raspy voice.

The woman and children then ran away from Speight and went to a different room and called 911 for help, police said.

While Speight’s initial charges included aggravated assault on an unborn child, Magistrate District Judge Daniel DeAntonio dismissed that charge at the end of a preliminary hearing on Feb. 28.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens at 814-946-7456.