Gainesville man sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping and choking woman

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Travis Lamont Hale Sr. 47, has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison after a jury found him guilty of sexual battery, felony battery, and domestic battery by strangulation.

Hale was arrested on November 13, 2024, after the victim, a woman who had been in a relationship with him for several months, reported that he had beaten her, choked her, and then kept her with him for two days to prevent her from calling the police before forcing her to have sex with him.

The victim said that Hale became upset with her on November 9 over his belief that she’d had a man at her apartment; even after her family told him that family members, including her father, were the only ones at her apartment, he was still upset. He drove her to his apartment, allegedly throwing her phone out the window on the way.

The victim said she got out of the car at an intersection and walked home, but she decided against calling law enforcement because Hale had only destroyed her phone.

About an hour later, Hale returned to the victim’s apartment, and she let him in because he was calm and had brought her computer back. She said he again became suspicious that a man was in her apartment, and he began punching her in the face and threatening to break her jaw. He choked her until she was unconscious, and when she regained consciousness, he took her to CVS to get first aid supplies, but she said she could barely see because of the swelling around her eyes.

Later in the day, he took her with him to a job in Lake City and did not let her out of his sight for two days so she could not call the police.

On November 10, Hale told the victim he wanted to have sex with her, and when she said she did not want to have sex with him, he complained that it wasn’t fair because “this is an apology.” Even though the victim repeatedly told him no, he forced her to have sexual intercourse with him.

In a trial that began on August 31, a jury acquitted Hale of destroying the victim’s phone but found him guilty of sexual battery, felony battery, and domestic battery by strangulation. Judge Denise Ferrero sentenced him to 15 years for sexual battery, followed by five years for felony battery, with credit for 661 days served; he received a sentence of time served for domestic battery by strangulation, followed by five years of probation after his release from prison. He will also be designated as a Sexual Offender.