A Columbiana County man will spend 8 to 12 years behind bars after a jury found him guilty of domestic violence charges.

Mitchell Allen Baker was sentenced Monday for felonious assault and domestic violence after beating his girlfriend and choking her twice into unconsciousness last fall.

Judge Megan L. Bickerton spoke to Baker before reading his sentence.

"You were seconds away from killing her. Had you strangled her any longer or harder, you could have ended her life," said Judge Bickerton. "And you sit here without any remorse whatsoever."

"What you need to do, Mr. Baker is search very deep as to what kind of rage causes that. What in you caused you to do that to another human being? That's the soul searching you need to do," she continued.

Baker is also charged with first-degree rape in the case, but the jury could not come to a verdict on that charge. No decision has been made on a retrial for the rape charge just yet.