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Last updated on Thursday, April 13, 2017
(BEDFORD) - A Lawrence County Superior Court I jury found Jermaine Thornton not guilty Wednesday on eight of the nine charges he was facing.
The jury deliberated for almost five hours before rendering their verdict.
According to court records, 31-year-old Thornton was found not guilty of intimidation, criminal confinement, sexual battery, strangulation, intimidation, domestic battery, sexual battery and battery.
He was found guilty of a Level 6 felony charge of domestic battery. He will be sentenced on that charge on May 8 at 1 p.m. His public defender Jim Spangler says he will wait until the sentence is handed down to decide if he will file appeal.
Thornton was arrested after his then girlfriend reported that he has choked her with a belt while forcing her to perform a sexual act on him.
He is also accused of physically and emotionally abusing his then girlfriend of seven years.
The woman told police that Thornton choked her with a cloth belt, cutting off her air supply. She asked him to stop, but he refused and threatened to kill her.
She says Thornton then forced her to perform a sex act on him while he was still choking her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. He then used the belt that had metal rings on it to beat her.
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