Nathanael Sexton convicted of battery, criminal confinement in Greene County

By Laura Lane, The Herald-Times

Published Thursday, October 21, 2021

Reprinted with permission

Nathanael Sexton, mug shot from booking following his trial

Editor’s Note: The investigating officer who responded to this incident then arrested Sexton was then-Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Davis Aerne (now an officer at the Linton Police Department).

BLOOMFIELD — Nathanael Sexton had his day in Greene Superior Court, again, on Tuesday.

After a mistrial two months ago for lack of jurors, the outcome this time was different: 12 jurors and two alternates heard testimony from four witnesses and then deliberated until 9 p.m.

They found Sexton guilty of felony criminal confinement using a vehicle and misdemeanor battery resulting in bodily injury, and innocent of a felony strangulation charge. The 34-year-old man was handcuffed and taken to the Greene County Jail, where he will be held until his Nov. 17 sentencing.

Sexton faces up to seven years in jail and fines up to $15,000.

He was accused in connection with a June 18, 2018, incident in which a former girlfriend alleged Sexton injured and threatened to kill her as he drove her around eastern Greene County late at night in his father's Dodge pickup.

On Aug. 30, Greene Superior Court Judge Dena Martin declared a mistrial in the case when lawyers ran out of potential jurors and the trial could not proceed.

New jury selection

Tuesday morning, 10 people gathered at the end of a hallway at the Greene County Courthouse to watch a new jury selection process, which was streamed on a TV monitor on a stand against the wall.

In order to have social distancing among the dozens of people called for jury duty Tuesday, the selection of jurors took place at the county fairgrounds 6 miles away in Switz City.

Martin moved that portion of the trial to the fairground's community building, where there was enough room to have 6 feet of distance between people. Face masks were not required and were not worn.

Some potential jurors when excused after being questioned about their knowledge of the case, their opinions about it and serving on the jury, hurried toward the exit.

Not enough potential jurors in first trial

At the first trial, a 75-person jury pool emptied and just 11 jurors were seated before running out of people; 12 are required for a felony trial. COVID-19 issues, no-shows and exposure to social media posts attacking the defendant ended the trial before the first witness got called to the stand.

On Tuesday, the jurors and alternates had been chosen by just after noon, and there were people left who had not been questioned.

Martin instructed the jurors to go eat lunch and then report to the courthouse at 1:30 p.m., where they were spaced around the entire courtroom.

Court hears victim's testimony, 911 call

People attending the trial as spectators were not allowed into the courtroom and stayed downstairs in the hallway. Frequent video glitches and audio problems made it difficult to hear or see all that transpired in the courtroom.

But the 31-year-old victim's testimony was audible, as was the 911 recording of her terrifying call for help as she hid in bushes near a rural residence the night the incident happened. "Can you please hurry?" she whispered, gasping and crying into the phone. "I'm hiding from him. Can you please help me?"

One of the four trial witnesses was the Greene County sheriff's deputy who arrived to help the woman, who was afraid Sexton would return for her.

She testified that Sexton had hit her repeatedly that night, held his arm tightly around her neck and kept her confined inside the truck as he yelled at and threatened her. She said he would abruptly stop and speed up, throwing her body into the dashboard.

Jurors viewed five pictures showing bruises on her arms, hands, legs, chest and face taken by a sheriff's deputy that night and five more her father took the next day when the bruises had darkened.

"She had 72 bruises," her father, sitting in the hallway watching the testimony, said under his breath, his head down in his hands.

Sexton testified that he was recovering from a serious shoulder injury in the summer of 2018 from a motorcycle crash and that he couldn't have driven the truck while holding the woman around the neck as she described.

He admitted grabbing her by the arm to push her away when, he said, she physically attacked him. He suspected her of stealing $750 from him, Sexton testified, and he was demanding it back. He said he was surprised when police came to his door later that night and arrested him.

Plea deal was rejected in April

Court records reflect that the defense was granted at least 16 continuances before this week's trial. Sexton was expected to plead guilty during an April hearing, but he turned down the negotiated plea offer.

Sexton has a history of being accused of violence against women that the jurors selected for this case were unaware of. The law protects a person accused of a crime from being judged on past bad acts instead of current charges.

Court records show that in July 2010, Sexton was charged with strangulation, intimidation, domestic battery and invasion of privacy; the charges were dismissed in March 2011.

The next year, Sexton was charged with strangulation, intimidation and battery. He pleaded guilty to intimidation and battery and got a three-year sentence, with two suspended and one on house arrest. He ended up spending 78 days in jail, court records indicate, when he violated probation.

Click link to read the original story on the HT website: https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2021/10/21/nathanael-sexton-bloomington-convicted-criminal-confinement-battery-greene-county-case/6112628001/