116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Johnson County jury convicts Cedar Rapids man in 2023 sexual assault
Jan. 31, 2025 5:54 pm, Updated: Feb. 3, 2025 9:51 am
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
IOWA CITY — A Johnson County jury Friday convicted a Cedar Rapids man of strangling and sexually assaulting a woman outside of a downtown Iowa City bar on Oct. 7, 2023.
The jurors, who deliberated about three hours Friday, found Anthony Cotner Jr., 26, guilty of second-degree sexual abuse. He faces up to 25 years in prison. Sentencing has not yet been set.
According to criminal complaint, Cotner approached a woman, who was passing by the Pre-Game Lounge and Hookah Bar at 220 S. Van Buren St., and asked her to come inside the bar. When she refused, he pulled her toward the Hookah Bar and, when she attempted to scream, he began strangling her with both hands until she struggled to breathe.
Cotner then sexually assaulted her, causing bruising and cuts to her legs, a cut on her knuckles and bruising to her neck, the complaint stated.
Witnesses testified to Cotner being in the area and surveillance video showed him in the area at the time of the assault. DNA also was found on the woman’s clothing.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters