WASHINGTON – A man charged with the near-fatal baseball bat beating of a Capitol Hill resident last year has been found guilty by a D.C. Superior Court jury on all but two counts.
Prosecutors say 22-year-old Tommy Branch wielded the aluminum bat used in the robbery and assault on T.C. Maslin, who suffered a severe brain injury last August as he walked home after having drinks and going to a Washington Nationals game with friends.
The jury found Branch guilty of robbing and beating Maslin. He was also convicted of robbing two other men in Adams Morgan. He was found not guilty of a fourth attack.
Branch showed no response as the verdicts were read Wednesday.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office says Branch could face more than 100 years when he is sentenced in July.
As the prosecution’s final witness, Maslin’s wife said her husband “was almost unrecognizable” when she saw him in the hospital after his attack. Abigail Maslin said her husband now has a difficult time expressing himself, and it’s difficult to determine what he understands.
T.C. Maslin, 30, has not attended Branch’s trial and no one from the Maslin family was in the courtroom to hear the verdict.
Branch’s family declined to comment.
Two other men also were charged in the brutal attack.
Michael Moore pleaded guilty earlier in the case and testified that Branch hit Maslin in the head with the bat while the group robbed Maslin of his bank card, iPhone and keys.
Defendant Sunny Kuti will be tried separately. He allegedly was armed with a non-working BB gun during the incident.
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