Indiana woman gets 2 years for scrotum abuse

MUNCIE -- A woman who tore her ex-boyfriend's scrotum nearly three years ago was sentenced Monday to two years in prison.

Christina Lorena Reber, 46, last August was found guilty of battery resulting in serious bodily injury in the March 2012 attack.

On Monday, the Delaware Circuit Court 1 judge who rendered that verdict, Marianne Vorhees, imposed a four-year sentence, with two years of incarceration followed by two years in prison.

The judge said Reber - who has moved from Muncie to Marion since 2012 - inflicted "an extraordinarily heinous injury" that has "changed the victim's life."

The 59-year-old victim testified at a July 2014 bench trial that his scrotum injury resulted in stitches the night of the attack and later reconstructive surgery.

Called to the stand Monday by Chief Trial Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman, the man said he still experiences recurring pain.

"It's uncomfortable," he said.

Reber told the judge she was "deeply sorry" over the situation.

"My hope for (the victim) is that he will be able to accept an apology from me," Reber said, and go on to lead a life with "wholeness and peace."

Hoffman had recommended the two-year executed sentence, arguing against a proposal for electronic home detention, which he said allows offenders to "sit at home and watch TV and socialize."

The prosecutor said when Reber attacked the victim - who had recently ended their relationship - in his home, there were "other parts" of his body she could have targeted.

"She chose the victim's genitals," he said.

Defense attorney Zaki Ali said as his client struggled with the victim, "that was the only thing she could think of to grab."

Reber testified at last summer's trial that the man was attacking her when she injured him. In her findings supporting the guilty verdict, Vorhees said she did not believe Reber's account of that encounter.

Noting his client had no prior convictions, Ali recommended a totally suspended sentence.

Seven friends of Reber testified about her generous nature, and work providing care to the elderly and children.

One called her a "spiritual mentor" and a "lover of the Lord."

Another called her "a great person who did a bad thing."

Vorhees said the decision on whether the executed portion of Reber's sentence would be served in prison or home detention was a "tough, tough, tough call."

She said the prison option was chosen in part because she believed Reber's apology represented less than a "total buy-in" of her responsibility.

And the judge also noted when her victim, after being injured, asked Reber to call for an ambulance, "you walked out the door and you left him there bleeding."

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.