Sentencing was rescheduled Monday to Nov. 6 for an ex-con facing a potential life sentence for repeatedly kicking his pregnant wife in the stomach and head until she lost consciousness in Palm Desert.
A Banning jury deliberated less than six hours in March before finding 29-year-old Andrew Phillip Allen guilty of seven felony counts, including inflicting corporal injury, assault with a gun, criminal threats and wilful child cruelty, and two misdemeanor counts of violating a protective order.
Allen also has prior felony convictions for corporal injury and preventing a witness from testifying, which opens him up to a possible life sentence, according to prosecutors.
Allen, who is 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, attacked his wife on two separate occasions in the early morning hours of Aug. 20, 2019. A passerby called 911 about 10 that morning and sheriff’s deputies responded and arrested the defendant at the Palm Desert apartment that he shared with his wife and their two young children on Hovley Lane.
One of the fights occurred while the couple’s children, who were 6 and 10 at the time, were eating breakfast. Allen slapped his wife, causing her to fall, then delivered repeated kicks to her head until she temporarily lost consciousness, authorities said.
While on the ground, Allen kicked her in the stomach. He then pulled out a handgun, raised it to her head and threatened to kill her, according to prosecutors.
Allen remains in custody without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.