A son of the prominent author Michael Chabon pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a misdemeanor choking charge under an agreement that will clear the crime from his record if he adheres to its terms, officials said.
The plea by the son, Abraham Chabon, is meant to resolve a criminal case stemming from a sexual encounter in which he had faced a rape charge that Manhattan prosecutors later dropped for what they said was a lack of proof.
On Tuesday, Mr. Chabon pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal obstruction of breathing, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, according to a spokesman for Mr. Chabon and a spokeswoman for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney.
Mr. Chabon, 23, admitted in his plea to applying pressure to his accuser’s neck with the intent to deprive her of oxygen, the spokeswoman, Emily Tuttle, said.
Mr. Chabon’s plea agreement requires him to continue therapy, abide by an order of protection and not be arrested again in the next 18 months, Ms. Tuttle said. If he meets those conditions, he can withdraw his plea to the misdemeanor, but the violation will remain on his record. If he fails to meet the conditions, he faces up to a year in jail.
The spokesman for Mr. Chabon, Andrew Bourke, said in a statement that, with the plea, “Abraham accepts responsibility for engaging in consensual choking during a consensual sexual encounter.”
Mr. Chabon was arrested last June in connection with an episode in January 2024 and charged in a criminal complaint with rape and strangulation after a woman said he had choked and hit her during a sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said that they had not presented the case to a grand jury before they dropped the rape charge, and they sought more time to investigate the strangulation charge.
Mr. Chabon was a New York University student at the time of his arrest. University representatives did not respond to questions on Tuesday about whether he was still enrolled there.
The charges against Mr. Chabon drew attention mainly because of his surname. His father has written several novels, including the “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” “Wonder Boys,” “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” and “Telegraph Avenue.”
Michael Chabon’s book “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001 and was the basis for an opera of the same name that premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in September.
Hurubie Meko contributed reporting. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
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