A 31-year-old Kent man accused of raping a 28-year-old woman last July has been found not guilty in a jury trial that began last week.



Joseph Swaney was charged with two counts of rape, all first-degree felonies; kidnapping, a first-degree felony; aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; felonious assault, a second-degree felony; intimidation, a third-degree felony; and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. A jury found him not guilty of all counts.



On Friday, prosecutors dropped some of the charges from the original indictment, including two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of intimidation of a victim.



The woman, whom the Record-Courier is not naming, said Swaney raped her, beat her and assaulted her several times in a tent behind the PARTA garage in Kent last July.



She said she kissed him and they were affectionate at first, but she said his behavior suddenly switched and he became violent.



"We were just relaxing, sitting together, [he] started choking me, banging my head on the ground," she said. "I did everything in my power to stop him without hurting him because I am not a violent person."



She said he sexually assaulted her several times, while she told him "no" several times, while trying to push him off. She said he was much larger than she was, so that was not possible.



She said she also asked multiple times to leave and tried to run away, but Swaney did not let her leave. He threatened her several times, she added.



"He told me if I told anybody he would kill me," she said.



Swaney represented himself during the trial. He pointed out there was very little DNA evidence to support the victim’s claims. DNA evidence was found on the victim’s neck, but not on the rest of her body.



Swaney said the victim made up the allegations after an argument between them.



Contact reporter Eileen McClory at 330-298-1128, emcclory@recordpub.com or @Eileen_McClory.