Jail Time For Douglas County Man Convicted Of Family Violence

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — A Douglas County man who choked and struck his victim so violently she was coughing up blood has been sentenced to prison for the crime.

John David Dyer was sentenced to four years in prison followed by eight years of probation Monday by Chief Superior Court Judge David T. Emerson. Dyer was convicted of aggravated assault and two counts of battery, all in violation of Georgia's Family Violence Act.

He was convicted after a week-long jury trial that ended on June 29.

On March 4, 2016, Douglasville police responded to a business in Douglasville, where someone reported that an employee had been the victim of domestic violence. Speaking with the victim, officers immediately noticed injuries and bruising to the woman's throat and neck, as well as bruises on her arms and thighs.

She said she had been choked and struck by Dyer, who had physically abused her multiple times in the past. She told police she made a comment that upset Dyer the previous evening and that he responded by punching and choking her until she blacked out.

She also was coughing up blood, but said she hadn't gone to a hospital out of fear for her children — one of whom was still in Dyer's custody at the time.

Co-workers called 911 when they saw the woman throwing up blood. Police sent her to the emergency room for treatment. A police escort was sent to pick up her children.

During their investigation, police found numerous harassing text messages that Dyer sent to his victim. All of them were presented as evidence during the trial.

Assistant District Attorney Anna Upshaw, who prosecuted the case, called the verdict and sentence "vindication for a woman who had been both physically and psychologically beaten and tortured for a long, long time by a man seeking to control her and their family."

District Attorney Brian Fortner also praised the sentence handed down by Judge Emerson.

He called it "a fair and just sentence that sends a message to this domestic violence abuser that his proclivity for physically beating and terrorizing a woman caught in the cycle of domestic violence is not the type of crime that Douglas County will turn a blind eye toward."

"Instead, abusers like John Dyer will be aggressively prosecuted and sentenced for their violent and cowardly acts," Fortner said.

Photo courtesy Douglas County District Attorney's office