A Butler County Common Pleas Court jury Tuesday found a Butler man not guilty of all charges filed against him for allegedly strangling, assaulting and threatening his former girlfriend last year.

After deliberating less than two hours in the one-day trial, the jury found Jeremy Michael Flood, 46, not guilty of a felony count of strangulation and misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats and simple assault that were filed by Butler City police following the alleged May 16 incident.

Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz, who prosecuted the case, declined to comment after the verdict.

Flood’s attorney, Joseph Scioscia III, said he is happy the jury reached the “correct” verdict and that the prosecution did not meet its burden of proof.

He said the verdict could affect another case pending against Flood. City police filed similar charges against him in connection with an alleged April 23, 2021, incident involving the same alleged victim. Scioscia said he will contact the district attorney’s office about that case before it comes to trial, possibly in June.

Flood was returned to county prison after the verdict to await a court date for the April 23 incident.

Alleged victim Taralyn Hlista, 47, testified that she and Flood had been dating for some time before the May 16 incident in her West North Street apartment.

She said she and Flood woke up and ate breakfast after spending the night together in the apartment. She said Flood got drunk and fell asleep on her bed after placing two neurontin pills under his pillow.

She said she took those pills daily and sometimes also took suboxone. Flood gave her pills in exchange for massages and sex, she said.

He woke up after two hours and went to the bathroom, and she laid one pill on the bed and took the pills while he was in the bathroom, she said. She said she swallowed one pill, but dropped the other one on the floor.

Flood saw the pill on the floor when he emerged from the bathroom, and asked her about the pills, she said.

He climbed on top of her on the bed and punched her after she told him that she took the other pill, she said. Flood then smothered her face with a pillow and punched her in the face numerous times through the pillow, she said.

Hlista said Flood then retrieved three knives from the kitchen, held one knife to her eye and jabbed her stomach with another knife.

Flood put the knives down and then put his hands around her neck and strangled her, she said. He pressed his elbow into her chest while he was strangling her, she said.

“He strangled me until I blacked out,” Hlista said.

She said she defecated on the bed due to the force of the strangulation.

Hlista said the alleged assault left her with two black eyes, a bloody nose, a bruise on her jaw and a bruise on her chest.

After the alleged assault, she said she took a bath, cleaned up the apartment and went to sleep. Before she fell asleep, she said Flood threatened to kill her if she called police.

She said Flood was drinking alcohol in the apartment when she woke up the next morning. He gave her three neurontin pills to alleviate the pain and told her that she “didn’t look good,” she said.

Earlier that morning at approximately 2 a.m., Hlista said she called her emergency contact at the Center for Community Resources and made arrangements for him to pick her up at the apartment at 8:30 a.m. She said she was living in the apartment as a part of a CCR program to assist homeless people. Program rules prohibited her from using drugs, but she said she did anyway.

She said she told her emergency contact that Flood tried to kill her. She said she then called 911 and told a dispatcher that Flood tried to kill her before she went to the Butler City police station, where she wrote a statement about what happened. Police arrested Flood on May 17.

Hlista said police took photos of her injuries before she went to Butler Memorial Hospital for an examination. The only photos submitted as evidence showed a bruise and a possible burn mark on her chest.

In the days that followed, she said Flood called her numerous times from jail.

She said a county detective called her and said Flood had written a letter while he was in jail that was addressed to Sarah James at Hlista’s apartment. Hlista said she used that name when she worked as a stripper. The contents of the letter were not revealed during the trial.

In closing arguments, Scioscia argued Hlista’s testimony wasn’t supported by evidence. He said there were no marks on her stomach from the reported knife jabbing, no photos of her reported facial injuries and no photos of neck injuries that would indicate she was strangled.

The prosecution and defense agreed to a stipulation that Hlista and Flood made a sex video together, even though the video wasn’t presented as evidence or played for the jury.

Hlista said the video shows Flood holding her by her hair, and her asking him to choke her.

“I say ‘Jeremy, choke me,’” she said, about the video. He then places his arm around her neck.

“I ask for it to be rough. I have him pull my hair,” she said.

She then says the safe word “pumpkin” and he lets go of her neck, she said.

She said he asked her to participate in the video because he believed it would help him avoid guilt in the case involving the April 23 incident. She said she agreed to take part in the video.