SANTA ANA – A former teacher who slashed his throat in open court after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager was sentenced Friday to 46 years to life in prison.

Jeffrey Scott Jones, 56, stoically looked on as Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg sentenced him to the maximum penalty for his conviction on two felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of continuous sexual abuse.

Jones, a Huntington Beach resident who used to teach Advanced Placement English at Libra Academy, a public high school in Huntington Park, continually sexually assaulted the girl in 2012-13.

The abuse, as well as the ensuing investigation, prompted the girl’s family to turn its back on her; she then lived in group homes and on the streets and used heroin. Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown told the judge that she has since turned her life around and has graduated from high school.

“You broke me and brought me down to feel worthless,” the girl, who was not one of his students, wrote to Jones in a statement that was read in court. “I was a little girl, and you took my innocence. You are a pathetic excuse of a human. Parents and kids trusted you to be a teacher, not a predator.”

Another girl testified during the trial that she and a third girl, both ex-students of Jones, were also sexually assaulted by him.

Ed Welbourn, Jones’ attorney, pointed out that many ex-students had written letters to the court on Jones’ behalf.

“It’s clear he had a positive impact on many people in the community,” Welbourn said.

The judge said he believed the people who wrote those letters were well-intentioned, but noted they did not sit through the trial and hear the testimony about the sexual abuse.

On Friday, there were no signs of a wound on the right side of Jones’ neck, which on Oct. 19 he sliced with a razor blade immediately after the jury’s verdict was read; his head hit a desk as he fell to the ground.

He appeared to walk into the courtroom without difficulty, after having been brought in a wheelchair during a November hearing, perhaps because of the neck-stabbing incident.

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com