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Miss UNC-Pembroke Found Guilty Of Simple Assault

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LUMBERTON, N.C. — The beauty queen accused of beating a pregnant teenager said she was just defending herself. A judge did not agree.

District Court Judge Stan Carmical found Aja Locklear, Miss UNC-Pembroke, guilty of simple assault Friday after she appeared in court to answer charges against her.

She was found not guilty of more serious charges, assault with a deadly weapon and damaging personal property. A charge of making a threatening phone call was dismissed.

Locklear took the stand in her own defense Friday. She testified that Victoria Lowry tried to assault her, not the other way around.

Lowry said Locklear was the aggressor in their recent altercation in a Lumberton intersection.

Locklear's younger sister, Shauna, also was caught up in the controversy. Lowry also accused her of assault, but she was cleared of the charge.

Lowry, who is pregnant, said Locklear and her sister rammed Lowry at the intersection, pulled her from her car and then -- knowing she was three months pregnant -- began beating her, punching her in the face and kicking her in the stomach.

"Both of them are kicking me in my stomach and my side," Lowry said. "And it was hurting so bad; I was crying and screaming and telling them to stop, that they were going to kill my baby. And they said they didn't care; they were going to kill my baby."

Both Aja Locklear and Lowry agreed that they have had ill feelings against each other since a feud over a boyfriend.

Lowry, meanwhile, was found guilty of stalking Friday and not guilty of assault.

The judge said his verdicts will not go on the women's records; he just wants them to stay away from each other and stay out of trouble.

UNC-Pembroke officials have allowed Aja Locklear, who won her crown on a platform attacking domestic violence, to keep her crown to this point.

If Locklear loses the title, first runner-up Robyn Baker will get it.

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