BENNINGTON — A man who has been detained since 2018 on allegations that he tried to kill his girlfriend was sentenced Thursday to two and a half years of time served and five years of probation.
Shortly before he was sentenced, Troy Thompson of Arlington pleaded guilty to the felony crime of first-degree aggravated domestic assault. He also pleaded to two misdemeanor counts of domestic assault.
Thompson, 26, is expected to be released sometime between Friday and Monday, defense attorney Rick Burgoon said. Bennington County’s second-longest-held defendant, Thompson was originally scheduled to undergo jury selection on Tuesday.
On Thursday afternoon, Thompson admitted that during an argument with his girlfriend in December 2018, he pushed her into a bed of broken glass at their home.
The broken glass caused a serious laceration on the woman’s lower back, resulting in his felony offense, Bennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Robert Plunkett said.
Thompson also admitted that earlier in 2018, he assaulted his girlfriend on two other occasions. He shoved her against a tractor-trailer while they were in Bennington and punched her in Arlington.
Thompson was originally charged with 14 felony and misdemeanor offenses, including attempted second-degree murder. Attempted murder, the most serious charge he faced, is punishable by a prison term of 20 years to life. The court ordered him held without bail in December 2018 while awaiting trial.
His girlfriend told police Thompson repeatedly squeezed her neck until she almost blacked out. At one point, he reportedly tried to strangle her in the bathroom using a shower curtain rod.
Police reported finding what they suspected to be blood on the couple’s bedsheets, bathtub and shower curtain. The woman said she started bleeding when Thompson pushed her into shards of glass — pieces of a storm window that shattered when he shoved her against it.
She also spoke about being grabbed by her hair, thrown on the ground and punched in the face, before being kicked in her ribs.
Nearly half of Thompson’s charges were dismissed during pretrial court proceedings. The rest were dismissed under his plea deal with the county State’s Attorney’s Office.
The woman, who broke up with Thompson, told the court Thursday that although she did not completely agree with the plea deal, she accepts it. She said she did not want to face the alternative, which is to testify at trial since she is expecting a child.
But she expressed worries about Thompson’s being released from jail soon.
“I’m very scared for myself and my children,” she told Superior Judge Cortland Corsones during a call. “I do not feel he has learned a lesson, and I do not feel that he feels bad about this situation.”
Plunkett said he understands the woman’s position. But the prosecutor asked the court to accept the plea deal, saying the state believes two and a half years in jail is “sufficient punishment” for Thompson’s offenses.
He said the case represents Thompson’s first criminal charges and that his strict probationary conditions should ensure public safety. Court records show that his 26 probationary conditions include not having contact with his ex-girlfriend, undergoing counseling and providing his probation officer with the name and contact information of a person with whom he plans to become romantically involved.
When given a chance to speak before being sentenced, Thompson emphasized that the offenses were his first convictions. He said he has spent a significant amount of time in jail at the facility’s law library and engaged in outreach activities. He appeared by video link from the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport.
The judge, who described Thompson’s offenses as involving a “significant amount of violence,” nonetheless accepted the plea deal. He acknowledged that this was Thompson’s first criminal record and the time he has already spent in jail should be significant enough to deter him from similar behavior.
Corsones sentenced him to five to 10 years in prison, all suspended except for the two and a half years he already served. If he violates probation, he could face more prison time.
Bennington County’s longest-held defendant, Bernard Rougeau, was detained in November 2018. He is scheduled for a jury draw Tuesday, then a three-day jury trial starting Nov. 30.
Since Vermont’s criminal jury trials resumed in May 2021 — after being suspended for more than a year during the coronavirus pandemic — Bennington County has held only two jury trials.
