A man who choked and beat his live-in girlfriend will serve 20 days in jail.
The defendant, Donald Thomas Tanner, 26, was directed by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to serve 20 days of an 11-month, 29-day sentence on the charge of domestic assault. The more serious felony count of aggravated assault was dropped as part of his plea agreement. He was also warned to stay away from the victim. He will be allowed to serve his sentence on weekends.
His sentence comes after he assaulted his live-in girlfriend in front of witnesses.
“He grabbed me by the throat and started punching me,” the victim swore in her warrant against Tanner. “I went into the kitchen and he lunged at me.”
The victim said the assault continued around the house as she tried to get away from her abusive boyfriend. The assault, she said, involved more punching and choking.
“He grabbed me by the throat and choked me to the point I was about to pass out,” the victim recalled noting one of her friends intervened at that point.
However, after learning they called the sheriff’s department he punched her again before running away. She told officers Tanner had hit her earlier in the week as well.
Officers found multiple abrasions on her face as well as scratches on her arms and red marks on her back to support her story of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend.