By Stacie Guevara
WOODLAND, CA – Defendant Alexander Khelawan appeared in Yolo County Superior Court last week, facing at least five charges, including use of a deadly weapon, battery and corporal injury on a cohabiting spouse and infliction of great bodily injury.
Khelawan was initially given these charges after an incident occurring on May 20, and has been in court several times since.
Khelawan appeared before Judge Peter M. Williams, where he was sentenced to three years’ probation and served with a no-harassing Criminal Protective Order (CPO). A CPO is an order a judge makes in order to protect a victim.
The main goal of Wednesday morning’s hearing was to decide what type of contact order the court was going to appoint, whether it be a stay-away order, a restraining order or a no harassing contact order.
In order to determine this, the court heard an impact statement from the victim, Khelawan’s wife, who appeared in court via Zoom, and initially apologized for not appearing in person.
“I’m currently three and a half months pregnant but I do have a few things I want to say. The first thing I want to say is Alex [the defendant] impacted my life in more ways than one. And I honestly believe that, and I hope that he has learned his lesson,” the victim said.
The victim started tearing up, adding “However, the fact that we have a child… I know that he needs to be in this child’s life. And I don’t want to take that from him. But all I ask is that the courts today understand that this is not something that was light or easy.”
The victim said she felt like no one was taking her seriously, and it was clear she was deeply hurt in more ways than one.
Judge Williams assured her that she was being taken seriously by this court and told her, “Thank you for your words… I appreciate you coming forward and telling us your perspective. You’ve clearly suffered both emotional and… physical pain, as well.”
A 100-yard stay-away order was never given to Khelawan because his wife will be moving soon, but she expressed her worry about her current pregnancy.
She said it was listed as a high-risk pregnancy and that she would like Khelawan to have some type of input during her next few obstetrics appointments, due to the health of the child and their history.
“I just ask that any contact we have is solely in regards to this child. Nothing more, nothing less. And that we just are able to keep it at what it is, which is a co-parenting situation… That’s all I ask,” the victim said.
The judge understood, issued the no-harassing CPO and said they could discuss a possible stay-away order in the future, if the victim requests it after she moves into her new residence.
