THOMASVILLE— Before a Superior Court judge sentenced a man to 20 years in prison in a rape case, the defendant apologized to his wife and children.

“He has strong family support,” chief public defender Catherine Smith told Judge Frank Horkan at the Thursday morning sentencing.

Smith pointed out Charley Jerry Chaney’s children, extended family and wife in the third-floor courtroom at the Thomas County Courthouse.

Chaney, 48, entered a guilty plea in late April to aggravated assault with intent to rape, false imprisonment and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime.

Horkan sentenced Chaney to 20 years in prison on the rape offense. Fifteen years are to be served, with the remainder on probation.

The defendant was sentenced to five years in prison, concurrent, on the other two pleas.

Chaney was charged last year with rape, aggravated assault and kidnapping involving a relative.

The relative, in her late teens, said Chaney told her to go to a north bypass truck stop to pick up a check he had for her. The woman told authorities that when she tried to leave Chaney’s vehicle, he put a knife to her throat and demanded oral sex.

According to a Thomas County Sheriff’s Office incident report, Chaney used the knife to cut off the victim’s bra and panties and raped her.

“Your honor, there’s more than one victim in this case. ... This incident has ripped his family wide open,” Smith told Horkan. Yet, she added, Chaney’s children and wife were in the courtroom to support their father and husband.

Chaney, whose family members wrote a number of letters to the court in support of him, apologized before hearing the sentence.

“I just want to apologize to my wife and kids,” he told the court. “ ... I’m sorry. I was wrong. I paid attention to something I shouldn’t have. I screwed up.”

Chaney, who had been released on a bond, was taken into custody and led by deputies from the courtroom.

He has 30 days to appeal the sentence.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.