Dayton man who strangled girlfriend, attacked dog with machete gets 15 months in prison

Montgomery County Courts Building. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

Credit: Jim Noelker

Credit: Jim Noelker

Montgomery County Courts Building. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

A Dayton man will spend more than a year in prison for beating and choking his girlfriend and attacking her mother’s dog with a machete and hammer in September.

Johnny Deangelo Pickens was sentenced Monday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to 15 months in prison after he pleaded guilty March 11 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to felony charges of strangulation and cruelty to companion animals and a misdemeanor count of domestic violence.

Johnny Pickens

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

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Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Dayton police responded Sept. 12, 2023, to a home in the 800 block of Danner Avenue, where a woman described a series of violent acts over the past several days.

In one instance, the woman said Pickens hit her “multiple times with a closed fist, poked her with a knife and choked her to the point where she almost went unconscious,” according to an affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court.

The following day, Pickens was watching his girlfriend’s mother’s dog when he reportedly sliced the dog’s leg with a machete. The woman told police that when she came home she saw Pickens hit the dog on the head three times with a hammer and then throw the dog in the trash, according to the affidavit.

“Not only did this violent defendant physically attack and strangle the victim nearly to the point of unconsciousness, but he attacked a completely innocent dog for no reason,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. previously said. “Thankfully, the dog managed to survive.”

As part of his plea, misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and aggravated menacing were dismissed, records show.

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