NILES, Ohio - A Niles man was sentenced to spend the at least the next six years behind bars after he was convicted of trying to sexually assault a woman with the claw of a hammer. 

On March 23, 41-year-old Scott McCleery was found guilty of domestic violence, attempted rape and one count of felonious assault. 

McCleery was found not guilty of rape, one count of felonious assault and disrupting public services. 

He was sentenced to spend a maximum of eight and a half years at the Lorain Correctional Institute. 

Court documents show the incident stemmed from an altercation between McCleery and his girlfriend at the time at their mobile home they shared. 

In a criminal complaint, police said on July third of 2020, the victim told officers that McCleery grabbed her by the hair, placed his arm around her neck and tried to sexually assault her with the claw of a hammer. 

This was after police said she told them that he had gotten mad at her after she went out for a "Ladies Night" and had called her continually throughout the evening. 

According to the police report, she told officers McCleery might have thought that she was cheating on him. 

Police said in the report that the victim went into the bathroom of the mobile home and said that McCleery grabbed her phone from her hand and put it in the toilet. 

She told police he then was trying to sexually assault her with a silver headed, wooden handled claw hammer, according to the report. 

Police said the victim then ran into the bedroom and McCleery entered with a knife, stabbing the door and bed while yelling at her. 

He then left and went to sleep on the couch, according to the report. 

McCleery must also register as a Tier III sex offender.