Mount Morris man cleared of felony aggravated domestic battery, found guilty of lesser charges

OREGON – A Mount Morris man was found not guilty of felony aggravated domestic battery but guilty of two lesser charges of domestic battery after a three-hour bench trial Tuesday.

Cory Love, 47, was charged in December after police investigated a Nov. 23 altercation in a Mount Morris home.

In the felony case, Love was accused of intentionally trying to strangle a woman after an argument escalated into a fight on Thanksgiving day. After hearing testimony from three witnesses and Love, Ogle County Judge John “Ben” Roe ruled that prosecutors had not proven Love intended to strangle the woman after an argument and fight that led into the home’s bathroom.

Love was found guilty of the misdemeanor offenses of slapping the woman with an open hand and pushing her off a toilet.

The woman testified that she and Love were arguing when the incident escalated into him slapping her, breaking household items and then pushing her off a toilet. The woman did not report the incident to police, but she said when she began experiencing pain in her chest a few days later, she went to the Rochelle Hospital to be examined.

Under questioning by Assistant State’s Attorney Melissa Voss, the woman said she was scared when she asked Love to leave because he had never been violent before. Under questioning by Love’s attorney, Ogle County Public Defender Michael O’Brien, the woman also claimed Love was trying to put her head in the toilet to “shut her up.”

Love testified that he and the woman had an “on-and-off again” relationship and were arguing back and forth. He admitted to breaking household items to get her attention and said he slapped her on the chin during the argument.

In his ruling, Roe said he reviewed the evidence in the case and determined that it was plausible that Love didn’t intend to strangle the woman while wrestling by the toilet. But he characterized trying to put someone’s head in a toilet as a “despicable act.”

Love’s sentencing hearing on the misdemeanor charges is set for 2:30 p.m. June 28.