Convict Knocks Out Wife's Teeth, Steals Money Meant for School Clothes

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A man released from prison last month is charged with knocking out two front teeth of the estranged wife he married while in prison and then taunting her for her missing teeth after she refused to hand over cash intended for school clothes, according to court documents.

were called to a home in the 1200 block of Oxford Street just after 5 a.m. Aug. 21 on a report of a “serious” domestic assault, according to the criminal complaint, signed by Hopkins Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg.

When they arrived, officers found the victim crying and visibly upset, with a large cut on her lip, blood on her neck and shirt and holding a bowl beneath her chin to catch blood that was flowing from her mouth. The woman’s two front teeth were missing, according to the complaint.

She told police that her estranged husband, 24-year-old Marvel Galvaston Williams, had broken down her door and assaulted her.

The woman said she and Williams were married while he was in prison. He was released from prison July 5 and was required to live at a halfway house.

However, an arrest warrant was issued after Williams violated terms of his parole. The victim told police that he’d been “on the run” since the warrant was issued and that he’d occasionally called her and demanded money so he could continue running.

The woman said she decided not to help Williams anymore and told him that he wasn’t welcome at her house. She said she had changed her locks two weeks earlier because he had threatened to kill her.

At about 10 p.m. Aug. 20, she left her home, turning off all the lights and locking the doors. He called and asked for money and where she was while she was away, she said.

The woman said she gave Williams a wrong address and told him not to come to her house anymore.

When she returned home at 4:45 a.m. Aug. 21, Williams walked into the room from the basement and confronted her. She tried to flee, but Williams stopped her, yelling, “[Expletive], give me the money right now!”

The victim told police that she had taken $500 in cash out of the bank to buy school clothes for her children.

Williams grabbed the victim’s purse and retrieved the cash, then began punching her in the face repeatedly, knocking out her front teeth and dazing her, according to the charging documents. Williams then taunted her, saying, “You don’t got no teeth no more!” according to the complaint.

She began to cry and fell to the floor, and Williams dragged her across the floor, ordered her to get up and get in his car with him, according to the complaint. He then apparently changed his mind, told her to go to the hospital and said, “[Expletive], I’m going to kill you if you call the police!” the woman told officers.

Williams then left the scene, driving what appeared to be a rental car, the woman said. She was taken to a hospital—where she got stitches in her lip and efforts were made to replace her front teeth, which officers had found on the floor.

Williams is charged with two felonies: first-degree burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine, and third-degree assault, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

He remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $200,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Sept. 12 in Hennepin County District Court.

Williams was previously sentenced to seven and a half years in prison following a 2008 conviction for aiding an offender. Under a plea agreement, a judge dismissed first-degree and second-degree murder charges and a first-degree attempted murder charge.