Fairfield woman sentenced to six years in prison for parking lot assault

Written in association with The Rockbridge Report, read the article here.

A Rockbridge County judge on Wednesday sentenced a Fairfield woman to six years and two months in prison for attacking a woman who had nearly hit her with her car at a shopping center on East Nelson Street in Lexington last year.

“What this sentencing is about is protecting our community from unprovoked attacks from strangers,” Circuit Judge Christopher Russell said.

He also sentenced Tia Brannon, 24, to five years of supervised probation after her release from prison. Brannon’s total sentence was 18 years and two months, with 12 years of it suspended.

In June, Brannon and a co-defendant, Reanna Hardy, 23, were convicted by a jury after a two-day trial. The jury found each woman guilty of mob malicious wounding, malicious wounding and interfering with a call for emergency services. They were acquitted of sexual battery charges.

Brannon and Hardy, of Raleigh, N.C., were accused of assaulting a woman in the Rockbridge Square parking lot on May 20, 2024, after a near collision as they backed out of a parking spot.

Annelise Tilton, of Christiansburg, was in her car resting for about 30 minutes before the attack. Police said Hardy climbed through Tilton’s car window and punched Tilton in the head repeatedly. “She told me to watch where I was going and spit on my face and hair,” Tilton wrote in a court filing.

Brannon also attacked Tilton, who told police the attackers egged each other on by saying to one another “hit that bitch” and “get her,” according to a police report.

“She chose to attack somebody in the most violent way possible,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kari Munro said. “This kind of attack in our community is shocking.”

Police said Tilton tried to fight back and use her cell phone to call for help. She said the attackers knocked the phone away from her. At some point, Brannon and Hardy pulled Tilton’s pants down and she began screaming for help. That’s when Brannon and Hardy got back in their car and drove away, police said.

Tilton, who was 21 at the time of the attack, told police she hit one of the women in the chest and kicked the other in the face during the struggle.

“What [Tilton] sustained was objectively traumatizing, objectively malicious, and objectively not okay,” Munro said.

Tilton was treated at a Lexington hospital and later evaluated by Dr. Lydia McNeary, according to court filings. Tilton reported heavy bruising to her head and face, confusion in the days after the assault and repetitive speech.

She said she has a history of concussions but described new, persistent headaches that now strike four to five times a week and last for hours. She also said she has sensitivity to light and sound.

Brannon’s attorney, Steven McFadgen, said Brannon was not the main aggressor in the attack. “The atypical violence here is not pinned on Ms. Brannon,” he said. “When you hang out with bad people, you can do bad things.”

Brannon apologized in court. “I apologize to her and her family. She never should’ve gone through that at all,” she said.

Brannon testified that her relationship with Hardy was manipulative and played a role in the assault. She told the judge she urged Tilton to run and only held her legs to stop her from kicking.

“There’s three sides to this story,” Brannon said, referring to Tilton’s version of the attack. “When you’re in a whirlwind, you see what you want to see.”

Hardy also faces a jury trial for assaulting two officers at the Rockbridge County Courthouse on June 4, 2024, when they served her with court papers. The trial is set for Oct. 27.

Hardy’s sentencing is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.