A 33-year-old man with a history of abusing women pleaded guilty Thursday in New London Superior Court to kidnapping the mother of his child on April 9, 2016, and battering her for hours with their daughter present in his home at 60 Stonybrook Road in Ledyard. 

Christopher Mims will be sentenced July 26 to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of special parole. He pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping and risk of injury to a minor following months of pretrial negotiations between Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla and attorney M. Fred DeCaprio from the public defender's office. He admitted also to two counts of violation of probation stemming from earlier domestic violence incidents.

Mims entered his guilty pleas under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates he doesn't agree with the state's version of the case but does not want to risk a trial. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein told him he could be sentenced to up to 38 years if convicted of the charges to which he pleaded guilty.

Mims has been held in lieu of $750,000 since he was arrested following a lengthy standoff with police, and is currently incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Institution in Suffield. During the court hearing, the 6-foot-5 Mims wore handcuffs, shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit. He said he wants to take a nursing program in prison so that he would be able to find employment upon his release.

The woman is aware of the plea deal and may attend the sentencing, according to Victim Advocate Beth Ann Hess. The judge will be issuing a standing criminal protective order that prohibits Mims from contacting her or their child.

According to court records and testimony, Mims had been released from prison two weeks before the incident after a six-month prison stint for domestic violence involving a different victim. On the day of his release, the kidnapping victim attempted to obtain a restraining order, but a judge dismissed the case after conducting a hearing and determining the applicant had not met the statutory requirements.

Mims invited the woman to his home to meet his "sponsor" so that she would feel more comfortable leaving the child with him, according to a report prepared by Ledyard Police. He met her outside, picked up the child, then grabbed the victim by the hair and shirt and pulled her into the house. No sponsor was present. 

The woman said Mims told her, "You are going to die today," and over the course of 4½ hours, with their child present in the bedroom, he drank "nip" bottles of alcohol as he repeatedly kicked and punched the woman. He tied her hands and feet with a rope, and forced her to read aloud from a notebook of his writings. She said she got knocked unconscious several times.

Mims told the woman he planned to kill her and the mother of his other child and to take the children to the victim's mother's house, then kill himself.

Eventually, the woman said, she talked Mims into untying her and he used a large kitchen knife to cut the rope. She said he left the room when somebody came to the door and she took her daughter and fled, dialing 911 on her cellphone. She said she saw a woman delivering mail and asked her to call for help.

Over the next six hours, Ledyard police said, Mims refused to leave the home, threatening during on-and-off communications to commit "suicide by cop."

k.florin@theday.com