Strangulation charge reduced to misdemeanor

By Linda Cicoira

A 30-year-old Painter man, who was initially indicted on a count of strangulation, was sentenced Monday in Northampton Circuit Court for two misdemeanor charges.

Ranquise Damule Coston, of Pennyville Road, was sentenced to 12 months in jail with all but a month suspended for the reduced charge of assault and battery of a family member. Coston was also given a suspended six-month term for destruction of less than $1,000 worth of property.

Records accused Coston of strangling Diamond Johnson, the mother of his children, on Dec. 11, 2021. Johnson told authorities the two argued outside her Exmore home. “He kicked her minivan leaving a dent and pushed her inside her home and punched her on her face and also strangled her,” according to the court record.

In another case, 47-seven-year-old Solomon Omar Jones, of Franktown Road in Nassawadox, was sentenced to six years in prison for a second offense of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. This crime occurred in April 2022. All but a year was suspended. Jones will be on supervised probation for three years.