Knoxville, TN (WOKI) A Knoxville man has been sentenced to decades in prison in a kidnapping and assault case from 2023.

The District Attorney’s office says 62-year-old Merv Conley Rodgers was convicted of especially aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault and two counts of aggravated assault in connection to a fight with his girlfriend in June 2023.

According to court records, the fight got out of control, and Rodgers ended up strangling his girlfriend multiple times, hitting her with a baseball bat and keeping her inside the van he was living in overnight against her will.

He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.