Charges were moved forward Monday at a preliminary hearing related to the alleged strangling of a Butler woman in September by her former boyfriend.

Brought from Butler County Prison, Miguel A. Rivera, 45, appeared before District Judge William Fullerton. He has been in jail on $100,000 bond since he turned himself in Feb. 13.

Alongside his attorney Max Roesch, Rivera pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include felony strangulation and misdemeanor counts of simple assault and theft, which stem from the alleged Sept. 22 attack.

Evette Johnson testified to her version of the events that night. She said the two were at home together after an evening out. She said she had been sitting on the couch and talking with a friend on her phone. She said Rivera had been lounging in the bedroom.

“There wasn’t arguing, fighting or anything,” she said. “He got up, walked around the table, grabbed me by the hair, punched me in my temple, choked me and then punched me out.”

Johnson said at first she was in shock because the act was unexpected. She said she and Rivera had been together for eight years, and he wasn’t acting like himself.

Johnson said by the time she managed to fight back, he was already choking her, and she eventually lost consciousness.

“I felt the air leaving my body, and then I just saw dark,” Johnson said. “It happened so fast.”

Johnson claimed that when she woke she found her purse opened and moved. After searching the contents she found it was missing $100 cash and a small canister of Mace. She then found her phone, broken and unusable.

During cross-examination, Roesch asked about the Mace. He asked whether she tried to use it. Johnson said “no.”

Roesch also asked if Johnson had done anything else that may have started the fight.

Johnson said in addition to the Mace, she owned knives and even swords, but she hadn’t been wielding them leading to the attack, which she reiterated was unexpected.

“That’s the truth,” she said. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Johnson said Rivera had even called her later at an unknown date to apologize, from a phone number she didn’t recognize. She said that same number called her again Feb. 13, and again it was Rivera.

“He said ‘I want to turn myself in.’ I said ‘It’s about time,’” Johnson said. “I went and picked him up.”

Rivera said it was late when she picked him up, so the two stayed in a hotel for the night. She said the next morning, she dropped him off at the Butler Police station. At this Roesch asked whether she was afraid of being around Rivera during the turn-in process.

“Nope. I don’t fear anything or anyone,” Johnson said.

Earlier in her testimony, Johnson had said she wasn’t following through with charges because she wanted to hurt Rivera. She claimed he had vices he needed help with.

“I’m not out here to crucify him,” Johnson said.

While the brunt of Monday’s testimony came from Johnson, Butler City Officer Marc Howard talked about his investigation. He said he took photographs of Johnson’s injuries, which she reported were swelling to the face and bruising on the face and neck.

“She went on her own to Butler Memorial Hospital and brought the discharge paperwork (on Sept. 25),” Howard said.

Roesch made no argument regarding the charges, but he did ask that Rivera’s $100,000 bond be lowered. He said Rivera was also being held in jail on other charges filed in Allegheny County.

Those charges were filed by Pittsburgh Police on Feb. 12, one day before he turned himself in to Butler Police, and they include felony counts of burglary, robbery, trespassing, theft and simple assault.

“He’s well entangled in the system, and I think $100,000 is higher than it needs to be,” Roesch said.

Fullerton said based on what he heard from Johnson and what he saw from Rivera during her testimony, he disagreed. Rivera at times had showed frustration throughout Johnson’s testimony.

“From time to time, his behavior was concerning,” said Fullerton, who then kept Rivera’s bond at $100,000.

Rivera is scheduled to appear May 17 for formal arraignment in Butler County Common Pleas Court.