Jury deadlocks on rape charges, but Stonis still faces sentencing on police assaults

John Stonis gestures as he testified on the stand on Friday. (Rochester Voice photo)

DOVER - The jury in the trial of an East Rochester man accused of brutally raping his wife couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the most serious charges in the Sept. 2017 incident, deadlocking today on both rape and false imprisonment counts while finding him guilty on three assaults on Rochester police officers the night they arrested him at his home just minutes after the alleged attack.

John Stonis, 31, formerly of Gina Drive, East Rochester, will likely face sentencing this spring for the three assaults against two police officers, which each have a maximum five-year sentence in state prison.

The jury also deadlocked on a witness tampering charge.

Stonis had been facing up to 40 years on the two rape counts.

The five-day trial culminated on Friday with Stonis taking the stand in his own defense and claiming the sex was consensual and not rape.

The jury, which handed down their verdicts around 3:30 p.m., also found him not guilty of resisting arrest and a simple assault charge against his wife, who remains married to him, he testified on Friday.

It was not immediately clear whether or not the County Attorneys Office would consider retrying the case. It is expected they will make a decision in the coming days.

Stonis and the defendant testified to vastly different accounts of the incident, she claiming she was violently raped and he claiming it was rough yet consensual sex as they often practiced.