Marblehead man admits to violent crimes

He then went into the bathroom and smashed a mirror, returned to her and again raped her. He bit at her cheeks and began choking her as he kept telling her "you did this to yourself."

As he was choking her, the victim believed he was going to kill her, MacDougall said.

At some point, she was able to call 911, but Houghton pulled the cord out of the phone.

Realizing police were on their way, Houghton dressed and took off.

Police quickly responded to the scene as Houghton was just pulling out of the driveway. He had no shoes or shirt on.

He was chased down Atlantic Avenue before police stopped him. His alcohol blood level was .19, more than twice the legal limit.

Houghton admitted to the judge that since the incident he has been diagnosed as bipolar and now takes medication for his disorder.

The victim and her family were present during the hearing but the victim did not take the stand and allocate for herself.

Instead MacDougall related notes prepared by the victim at the hearing which said.

"I have been forced out of Marblehead, lost many friends, can't date and I'm scared of being alone in the house," read MacDougall.

"He nearly killed her," MacDougall said as she emphasized Houghton's history of domestic violence involving numerous prior incidents in which Houghton showed improper behavior toward the victim.

Houghton said he did not remember and indicates he was in an alcoholic blackout, MacDougall stated.

"He knows exactly what he did that night," MacDougall stressed, noting the brutality he inflicted on the victim and said he still thinks she did this to herself.

MacDougall urged the judge to impose a five-to-seven year punishment, saying it was based on the very nature of the case and his age at the time was taken into consideration.

The victim's mother said she almost lost her daughter a second time, as she referred to the birth of her daughter being difficult. She said she saw the human bite marks on her daughter's face and bruises on her body at Massachusetts General Hospital on the night of the incident.

She said her daughter moved to Texas last summer because of the stress and visits but the visits are rough on her.

"I hope Chris gets the help he needs so no one is ever hurt from him again," stated the victim's mother in an impact statement read by MacDougall.

Dr. Carol J. Ball, a psychologist, took the stand for Houghton and told Lowy that she has been treating him for bipolar disorder.

She said that he is a very dependent, very insecure young man and when he began to see their relationship unravel, his condition, undiagnosed at the time, began to escalate.

"He, in a sense, lost himself to mental illness," said Ball.

She told Lowy that Houghton is "not a typical sexual predator," and that with safeguards in place, his mental illness under control with medication, he will not re-offend.

But when questioned by MacDougall, Ball admitted her diagnosis was relied upon by information related by him and his parents and that she was aware of his substance abuse and alcohol problems.

MacDougall questioned Ball if she agreed that domestic batterers are manipulative people, which she did.

Defense lawyer Robert N. Weiner did not contest the facts, but hoped the judge would consider a two-to-three year punishment, along with probation.

He said Houghton's "head was clouded by alcohol" but said his memory is clear enough to admit to the material facts that happened that night.

"He takes full responsibility today for what he did that night," Weiner said.

Houghton stated to Lowy that he is taking full blame for what happened that night.

"I will carry this on my back," as he said "I can never say enough how sorrowful I am."

Because of the "egregiousness of the crime," Lowy said, it calls for more than the three-to-five year punishment he had initially said he was going to impose with probation.

The judge has delayed sentencing until June 4 to allow Houghton ample time to discuss with his family whether he will take the new punishment of four-to-five-years in state prison that the judge says he now will impose. If he decides to take that prison term, the judge then will go over the elements of each charge Houghton says he committed along with the grand jury minutes, because he now questions whether Houghton is admitting to each of the elements of the charges committed.

If he decides not to take the punishment, the case will go to trial on July 31.

In the meantime, Houghton remains on house arrest monitored by the GPS monitoring system only to leave for work two days a week with his father at the family-owned marina in Winthrop, attend substance abuse and mental health programs and attorney appointments. He is to have no contact with the victim and report to probation pending his next court date.

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