Clintonite pleads to sex crimes, won’t stand trial

Clinton resident Paul Niermann, 30, pled guilty last week to an amended charge of sexual battery and two other felony counts. He was sentenced by District Judge Jill Weedon to 23 years in prison with 13 of them to be served.
Niermann was charged originally in May of 2018 with rape by instrumentation (Count 1), domestic assault and battery by strangulation (Count 2), and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (Count 3). The rape charge was the one amended to sexual battery, and he was sentenced to 10 years on it.
“We ultimately decided it was in the best interests of the victim and the State of Oklahoma to amend the charge and make the recommendation of 10 years to serve,” said District Attorney Angela Marsee. “The victim no longer lives here, and we didn’t want her to have to come back to testify at a trial. We wanted to avoid that for her sake.”
Besides the 10 years in prison, Mrs. Marsee said Niermann will have to register as a sex offender wherever he lives for the rest of his life. She said he also got a 10-year sentence for Count 2, but it was ordered to run concurrently with Count 1, and a 3-year sentence for Count 3 which is to be served after the 10 years on Count 1.
The offenses to which Niermann pled guilty took place May 24, 2018.
An affidavit of probable cause written shortly after that by Detective Ray Hammans of the Clinton Police Department said the defendant and the victim were having sex when she told him to stop because he was hurting her. The affidavit said he became upset and began choking her, then abused her further with his fingers, causing bleeding.
She then went to the bathroom and he allegedly tore the door apart. When she exited, the affidavit says he threw a full can of beer at her, striking her in the neck so hard that it caused the beer can to burst. The can was the dangerous weapon alluded to in Count 3 of the charges.
Niermann had been scheduled for trial during the upcoming jury term which starts Tuesday, but Judge Weedon ruled on the case March 14 after both sides concurred in the plea agreement.