Bryant Rose is guilty of assault and abduction without firearm specifications.
Jessica Orozco | The Lima News
LIMA — A jury found a Lima man guilty of holding his girlfriend hostage and assaulting her but not with with a gun after about four hours deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Bryant Rose, 37, was charged with second-degree felonious assault with a firearm specification, third-degree felony abduction with a firearm specification and third-degree felony having weapons under disability. The jury ruled Rose guilty of assault instead of felonious assault and abduction without the firearm specifications. He was found not guilty of having a weapon under disability.
According to Wednesday testimony from Janiece Spencer, Rose’s then-girlfriend, the two had thrown a party starting on the night of Jan. 28, 2021 and continuing until the early hours of the next morning. She said that the two argued when she paused the music to tell him that she was hungry and they went upstairs to the bathroom.
She said Rose trapped her in the bathroom, hit her in the head with a gun and bit her under her right eye. Photos of these injuries were shown to the jury Wednesday.
Rose eventually let the woman leave, and he went outside and was arrested about an hour and 30 minutes later.
Lima Police Detective Jesse Harrod, who was the primary investigator of the case, testified that Spencer exited the residence at 3:05 a.m. and Rose at 4:21 a.m.
In a recording of a Feb. 2021 jail phone call between Spencer and Rose, the man said he was sorry for everything and that he loved her.
Rose told the woman that the situation had been a misunderstanding and that the both of them had been drunk. Spencer asked Rose why he was “trying to play the victim” when she was the victim in the situation.
In a recording of Rose’s interview at the police department, Rose told Harrod that he never hit Spencer and that she fell into the bathtub at some point because she was drunk.
Rose told Harrod he didn’t own any guns because he is scared of them. He said he didn’t know anything about a bullet found in a bathroom or a gun magazine.
When Harrod told Rose that they could see if his DNA was on the bullet, Rose said he may have touched it, and that it and the magazine were likely from an old gun he used to have.
Rose said in the interview he “let [Spencer] go” when they looked outside and realized police were surrounding the house.
When Harrod left the interview room, Rose continued talking, denying that he put a “hand on that girl” and that he would love her until his death. He said to himself that Rose “did fall” at some point but he doesn’t remember when.
Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed ordered a pre-sentencing investigation before sentencing on Nov. 28 at 9:30 a.m.
