MANCHESTER, NH – A city man, under criminal indictment on charges he beat a former girlfriend because of her sexual orientation, is now facing civil charges for violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act.
Attorney General John M. Formella on Wednesday announced in a news release that Lavaughn Barnett, 19, of 196 Belmont St., is accused of violating the act five times.
The civil complaint alleges that Barnett’s conduct constituted five separate uses of unlawful force or violence motivated by the woman’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and that his conduct interfered with her lawful activities.
The civil complaint alleges that on Aug. 8, 2023, Barnett went to his former girlfriend’s home demanding to speak with her about their recent breakup. She agreed to go with Barnett to avoid a confrontation on the street.
Despite her protests, he took her to his home. Believing she had cheated on him with another man, he demanded to search her phone.
At his home, prosecutors said he threatened the woman and forced her into his bedroom. There, the woman told him she did not want to date him anymore and that she was bisexual. Hearing that, Barnett allegedly struck the woman repeatedly in the head, first in the right eye, breaking her orbital bone. He then is accused of choking her, striking her in the legs with a small metal baseball bat and, when she tried to leave, biting her on the arm.
Relatives, hearing the commotion, asked Barnett what was happening. Barnett, according to the attorney general, told them the woman was “a lesbian” and shut the door.
When police arrived, Barnett admitted he hit the woman after she told him about her sexual orientation and he made repeated references to it when describing the incident.
Barnett already is facing 28 criminal charges in Hillsborough County Superior Court North.
He was indicted in September 2023 on two counts each of first- and second-degree assault; two counts of criminal restraint; two counts of kidnapping; and five counts of animal cruelty. Ten charges, all misdemeanors, include domestic violence, simple assault and four counts of criminal threatening.
The first-degree assault charge, which alleges he hit the woman with the metal baseball bat, carries a 3 ½ to 7-years prison sentence on conviction. However, the other first-degree assault charge, which alleges he struck the women with the bat and that he was motivated to commit the crime because of his hostility towards the woman’s sexual orientation, carries a sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison because it is a hate crime.
Two other charges – criminal restraint and second-degree assault – also carry a 10-to-30-year sentence per count because they allege he committed the crime because of hostility towards the woman’s sexual orientation.
The animal cruelty charges accuse him of torturing a cat between June 1 and Aug. 8, 2023. According to the indictments, Barnett tied the limbs of a cat together with socks and repeatedly hit and smacked it with his hands, and put a cat in a dryer.
On June, 14, 2023, Barnett is accused of tying a weight to a cat’s neck and kicking it down the stairs. He also allegedly threw a cat against a wall causing it to spin in the air, bounce off the wall and fall to the ground.
Attorneys are also asking the court to issue a preliminary restraining order to prevent Barnett from violating the act and to protect the victim and the public from him.
Each violation of the Civil Rights Act allows for a maximum civil penalty of $5,000.
The Civil Rights Unit enforces state civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act and the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination. Anyone who believes their civil rights have been violated may file a complaint here or by calling 603-271-3650.