NORTHAMPTON, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — A jury has convicted 56 year old Thomas Finney of Ware in connection with an incident in August of 2022 in which he assaulted a woman by strangling her, beating and raping her. Eleven witnesses and the victim took the stand to testify. Finney was sentenced to a four to six year state prison sentence with three years fo probation after he is released.
From the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office:
Judge sentences man convicted of rape to a state prison term
NORTHAMPTON – A Hampshire Superior Court judge today sentenced a Ware man to a 4–6- year state prison term after a jury found him guilty Wednesday of charges that included rape, strangulation and indecent assault and battery.
A jury convicted Thomas Finney, 56, after deliberating for three hours Wednesday, in connection with an incident in August of 2022 in which he assaulted a woman by strangling her, beating and raping her. The trial ran over five days, during which 12 witnesses, including the victim, took the stand to testify.
Assistant District Attorney Sandra Staub, Chief of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, requested a sentence of 6-8 years in state prison on the rape charge, with 24 months to be served concurrently on each of the strangulation and indecent assault and battery charges, and 12 months served concurrently on the assault and battery charge.
In making her case, ADA Staub noted that her sentence recommendation falls withing the state sentencing guidelines.
“There’s a reason the sentencing guidelines call for such a sentence upon a conviction of rape,” she said. “Rape strips a person of all power and control they have over their life and instills a deep sense of emptiness, fear, anxiety, and depression in its victim.”
Defense Attorney Alfred Chamberlain asked for a sentence of 2 ½ years in the House of Correction followed by 5 years on probation.
“This was a violent crime,” Superior Court Judge Tracy Duncan said to defendant when she imposed a 4–6-year state prison sentence. Judge Duncan also ordered three years of probation after he is released from prison with conditions that include Finney receive sex offender treatment and alcohol treatment, that he stay away from the victim, that he use no alcohol and submit to random drug tests. He must also register as a sex offender.
Criminal charges are based on probable cause to believe a person has committed a crime.All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.