An Alabama man will spend years behind bars after brutally attacking his ex-girlfriend with a claw hammer when she cut off all communication following their breakup.
“He knew it was over with,” victim Brittany Moulton told local ABC affiliate WDHN about her ex, Latarius Dale, who a Houston County jury convicted last week of first-degree domestic violence.
“He had no control,” Moulton said while describing what led to the February 2025 attack. “He knew that day I had blocked him he couldn’t get in contact with me, didn’t know where I was or what I was doing, he was assuming I was out doing things with people.”
According to local CBS affiliate WTVY, a judge sentenced Dale to life in prison on May 21 with the possibility of parole. Moulton was reportedly in the courtroom and became visibly emotional as the judge delivered the sentence after Dale’s conviction.
“I do feel that justice was served, and I hope that I can be a voice for other victims to not give up and to stay strong,” Moulton told WTVY.
Prosecutors said Dale broke into Moulton’s home in Lovetown and attacked her with a claw hammer. He struck her more than two dozen times in the face, head, and chest before she lost consciousness.
“I heard two footsteps. I can’t get the two footsteps out of my head,” Moulton told WTVY in April. “All I could see is a black figure. He was dressed in all black and at that time that was my worst fear, someone breaking in on me.”
The brutal assault left Moulton with a metal plate in her head, and a torn retina caused blindness in her right eye. After the attack, she tried to reach a neighbor’s house for help and was later found in the front yard the next morning.
“God said, ‘Girl, you need to get outside,’” Moulton recounted to WTVY. “I heard Him clear as day. Like, from the right side, I heard it and I just remember thinking, looking up, ‘I hear you.’ So I walked outside. I walked to my neighbor’s yard. Knocked on her door, and she didn’t answer. So, I just remember saying, ‘I’m tired,’ and I fell out in the yard.”
Describing the lasting injuries, Moulton told the local outlet, “I have a metal plate inside of my head. I was sewn up from ear to ear. So my whole head, the top of my head is just full of scars and my retinas were torn in my right eye. I can’t see anything out of my right eye.”
Brittany Moulton was rushed to UAB Hospital in Birmingham on a medical aircraft after she was allegedly attacked by Latarius Mylik Dale.(Brittany Moulton)
Dale, who shares children with Moulton, was previously arrested in 2023 and charged with third-degree domestic violence in connection with another alleged incident. However, Moulton later asked a judge to dismiss the charge.
“I was like, ‘We’re raising kids together. Let me go drop these charges.’ And that’s what I told the judge,” Moulton recalled. “When he [the judge] asked me, ‘Is he making you do this? Is anyone making you do this?’ I said, ‘No, we’re raising kids together and we’ll get it together one day.’”
Moulton said she ended the relationship for good in November 2024, just three months before the attack.
“I got out and I said, ‘I’m not coming back,’” she remembered.
“There’s always options for help,” Moulton told WTVY last week. “If anyone ever needs any help, any advice, or to contact the resources, never hesitate. I stand with all the victims.”
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