MOUNT VERNON — A Mount Vernon man was sentenced to 17 months in prison Thursday in Knox County Common Pleas Court for domestic violence-related assault.
Chad Behner, 35, Mount Vernon, plead guilty to aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony, for assaulting and strangling his girlfriend last October.
A friend of the victim appeared in court to deliver an impact statement. The statement detailed how Behner terrorized the victim over a prolonged period, resulting in the victim requiring urgent medical care on multiple occasions.
According to the friend, the victim told her that being strangled by Behner in their bed and slowly losing consciousness was the first time she was scared of dying.
The friend said that, aside from the October incident, Behner had also beaten the victim when she was two and a half months pregnant and sexually assaulted her soon after she had just given birth. The friend submitted that these incidents can be verified by medical records.
She also described an incident in which she witnessed Behner terrorizing the victim by taking out the battery in the victim’s car after she had abandoned the car to flee. Behner then reportedly drove around the block for an hour, during which time he repeatedly called the victim over 45 times, according to the friend who witnessed this event through her window.
The friend further testified that Behner continued to contact the victim even after he had been arrested and was under a court no-contact order. Behner would harass the victim and the victim’s mother by repeatedly calling, as well as using other inmates’ accounts to get the victim to answer, according to the friend.
Behner’s controlling and violent behavior induces deep anxiety in the victim, causing her to spiral in her battle with drug addiction, the friend said.
“Every time he does this, it destroys every little progress I’ve made (with the victim),” said the friend, who said that she had been supporting the victim in her emotional, and drug, recovery.
The friend reported that the victim had confided in her and said that she believed the only way the abusive relationship would end is if Behner kills her.
She also contested the defense’s statement that the victim admitted to hitting Behner first. She said Behner had asked the victim to lie about hitting him first, but the victim did not do it because she said she would tell the prosecutors the truth if the victim was compelled by Behner to lie for him.
The friend asked the court to impose the maximum sentence, allowing the victim time to “get her affairs in order” and learn self-defense. She noted that longer sentences for abusers would encourage more victims to come forward to seek justice.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christine Williams corroborated the friend’s account, stating that a detective found that Behner had contacted the victim at least 82 times, “thumbing his nose” at the court’s no-contact order.
Other inmates at the Knox County Jail also said that Behner had told them that he would kill the victim if she does not stay with him, according to Williams.
Williams stressed the severity of the physical trauma endured by the victim, including signs of strangulation, contusion and two broken ribs. She joined the victim’s friend in asking the court to impose the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison for Behner.
Williams said that she hoped Behner would use this time to “reevaluate himself as a man, a father, and a significant other.”
Defense attorney Morgan Giles did not dispute the victim impact statement but appealed to the court to focus on the facts of his client’s case about the October incident.
Behner himself disputed the allegations of threats, claiming that any report of him threatening the victim was “fraudulent” and that his communication with the victim from the jail was mutual.
Behner said that he realizes he cannot control others and apologized to everyone involved for what he put them through. However, he said he was “shocked” and “blown away” by the allegations of harassment and threats.
Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Wetzel determined, based on the facts of the case, that Behner was not eligible for probation. Wetzel sentenced Behner to 17 months in prison with credit for 143 days served in the Knox County Jail.