A jury on Monday convicted a Karns City man of most of the charges filed by state police for a March 2023 assault of a woman at a camper in Fairview Township.

The one-day trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court resulted in Joseph R. Parker, 36, being found guilty of 21 of the 28 charges.

Parker represented himself with assistance of stand-by counsel Joel Hills.

The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about two hours before finding Parker guilty of 17 felony counts of a former convict not to own a firearm, one misdemeanor count each of terroristic threats and reckless endangerment, and two counts of simple assault. He was found not guilty of felony charges of strangulation, two counts of unlawful body armor and two counts of aggravated assault; and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and cruelty to animals.

Judge Timothy McCune scheduled sentencing for 10 a.m. Nov. 20. Following the verdict, Parker was returned to the Butler County Prison where he has been held on $150,000 bond since his March 14, 2023 arrest.

The woman, Hilary Knisely, 35, testified she accepted an invitation from Parker to spend the day, March 10, 2023, at a camper where he lived and she brought her service dog, Savior. She said she had known Parker for a couple years and they began a relationship a couple weeks before the incident.

As they were walking near the camper, she said she set off a bear trap and Parker told her there were booby traps around.

She said she stepped outside to smoke and her dog began barking at some surveyors. She said Parker asked her why the dog was barking and told her to come inside so they wouldn’t see her after she told him about the surveyors. She said the surveyors were about 5 feet from the trailer and they saw her.

Knisely said Parker grabbed her by the arm and her hoodie, dragged her into the camper, hit her in the head with the butt stock of a rifle and tried to pull her tongue out of her mouth to quiet her.

She said he strangled her twice causing her to nearly pass out and stopped when her dog bit him. She said he threatened to shoot her and tried to rip off the dog’s ear. She said Parker also stomped on her arm, which was in a cast, and hit it with the butt of the rifle.

She said she still wonders why the surveyors did nothing.

Knisely said she agreed to lay down with Parker to let him calm down and give her time to figure a way out. She told him her grandmother needed her help and he walked her through the woods to her grandmother’s nearby home.

She said she called a friend and they called 911. After telling the responding police about the incident, she agreed to help them arrest him by sending him a text asking him to come to her home. Police arrested him when he arrived.

She said she had bruises on her face, neck and arm, and a cut on her chin from the assault. Her dog’s ear was bleeding and he is no longer a service dog, she said.

“You tried to pull out my tongue to shut me up,” she said to Parker when he cross-examined her.

“You tried to strangle me twice,” she said.

State police trooper Casey Fuller said Parker had four loaded magazine for an AR-15-style rifle and multiple knives when he arrived at Knisely’s home and was arrested.

Trooper Brian Knirschild, of the hazardous device and explosives unit, said he went to the trailer to clear the booby traps Knisely said Parker had placed around the camper, but he didn’t find any.

Trooper Francis Walters said 17 firearms including rifles, shotguns and handguns were found and removed from the camper. Numerous bullets, shotgun shells, gun magazines and two body armor vests were also removed from the camper. He said it is illegal to possess body armor during the commission of a crime.

He said Parker’s criminal history prohibits him from owning firearms.

Testifying on his own behalf, Parker said his friends call him G.I. Joe and he has a large collection of guns and military gear. He said he knows he not allowed to own guns because of a previous conviction for possession of a knife.

“All I want to be is a law abiding firearm owner,” Parker said.