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Editor’s note: If you or someone you know has been a victim of a sexual or domestic assault, contact the police or The Tompkins County Advocacy Center here.  

ITHACA, N.Y. — Former Tompkins County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Vann was sentenced to time served Thursday morning two-and-a-half years after he was accused of beating a woman, hiding evidence of the crime and trying to influence a witness.

Vann was initially facing 16 charges related to the March 2015 incident and was eventually convicted of two counts of second-degree attempted coercion and fourth-degree tampering with a witness.The jury was deadlocked on a tampering with physical evidence charge.

Vann, 32,was initially sentenced to 30-days in jail and a three-year probation period. Upon submission of  a stay of judgement appeal to the third-division appellate court, he was released on $10,000 bail.

The District Attorney’s Office meanwhile arranged to re-try Vann on the felony third-degree tampering charge.

However, per a plea deal, the felony charge against him was dismissed in exchange for him withdrawing his appeal.

Related: Jeremy Vann terminated from Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department

The trial against Vann in March and April lasted nearly three weeks, including deliberation, and evidence included photos of the woman’s injuries and testimony from the nurse who evaluated the injuries, photos of a destroyed apartment, and a witness who testified to seeing Vann attack the woman.

In total, Vann will have served about four days in jail for his conviction. He is not required to adhere to any probation or conditional discharge requirements.

The woman who Vann committed the crimes against was not at the sentencing, however she attended the initial sentencing in which she stated the following:

“I would like to express my experience over the past two years following the crime that occurred on March 31st, 2014 by former police officer Jeremy Vann. I was not completely aware of how much this relationship had impacted me until the trial. 

I recall seeing the Snapchat video for the first time during closing statements. It was very disturbing and painful for me to watch. I question why anyone in law enforcement would create a threatening video in full uniform while sitting in a police cruiser to specifically save for later use.

Why would a person, expected to perform to a high professional standard in this community, take photos of my prescriptions months before the crime or download apps to send distorted and deceiving images to my friends and family?

The only explanation I can come up with is that this was a sick way of attempting to collect and create evidence for future litigation while isolating me from the people I love.

It amazes me how you have abused our legal system to prolong a verdict for two years, at the expense of not only myself and my family but this community. When the time finally arrived, you could not even testify or admit to a single wrong doing. Instead, you decided to place the guilt entirely on me.

My testimony in court was dragged on unnecessarily for three days while your attorney brought forth personal issues unrelated to any of the charges. When I tried to answer questions, I was cut off repeatedly and prevented from speaking. I have taken full responsibility for my personal wrongdoings. Not once have I been malicious toward you, asked for restitution, or attempted to press charges against you personally. I was subpoenaed to appear in court.

You feel that the rules do not apply to you and lack remorse. You will never admit guilt or accept consequences for your actions; instead, you blame those around you. The way you have chosen to view yourself through this trial is disturbing.

I hope that no one else will have to endure what I did. I hope you can learn from this experience as I did and realize how many people you have hurt by your actions. It takes a lot of courage to acknowledge guilt, and clearly, you do not have that.”

The Jeremy Vann case has lasted 2.5 years. Over that time, there have been a lot of developments and changes in the case. To help provide context to this story and the case, we have listed all of our coverage in regard to Vann below:

Jolene Almendarez

Jolene Almendarez is Managing Editor at The Ithaca Voice. She can be reached at jalmendarez@ithacavoice.com; you can learn more about her at the links in the top right of this box.