Ex-girlfriend of Denny Ross tells judge 'we had rough sex'

AKRON, Ohio - The ex-girlfriend of Denny Ross testified under oath twice on Thursday- once without the jury present and once with the jurors in the courtroom- and said that Denny Ross choked her during rough sex.

"He liked to choke me and he liked to hold me down... I thought he loved me. I didn't think he would kill me," Heather Hamrick said.

Judge Judy Hunter and attorneys from both sides asked Hamrick a series of questions over an hour period. Hamrick estimated she had sex with Ross 75-300 times.

"Every time we has sex, it was kinky," Hamrick explained.

The defense team  tried to convince Judge Judy Hunter to disallow Hamrick's testimony in front of the jury.

After reviewing case law over the lunch break, Hunter ruled the jury could hear Hamrick's testimony.

She took the stand for a second time around 1:30 p.m.

She testified that she saw Hannah Hill at Ross' apartment on the night on May 19th, 1999, the night police believe Hill was murdered.

Hamrick said she left the apartment because she heard noises coming from a bedroom and thought "something fishy was going on."

"I just said (expletive) this. I don't want to be part of any crime scene and left," Hamrick said.

She acknowledged that she didn't tell police about seeing Hannah during the initial investigation. She told prosecutors the new information in March of 2011.

Investigators have claimed that Hill, 18, was murdered by Ross during rough sex at Ross' Springfield Township apartment.

She was strangled and found in the trunk of her Geo Prizm in an Ellet neighborhood a week after she was reported missing.

Hamrick's testimony could be crucial for the state because prosecutors argue it could show a pattern when it comes to the defendant.

Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Meyer told the judge, "Denny Ross has a fetish, if you will, or a proclivity for choking women during the act of sex."

During cross examination, the defense attacked the credibility of Hamrick, an admitted drug user who also has worked as a confidential narcotics informant for law enforcement.

Ross was tried in 2000 for the killing, but the case ended in a mistrial.

This is the fifth week of his retrial. More than 60 witnesses have testified for the state so far.

Ross has maintained his innocence in Hill's murder. He raped a woman while out on bond in the Hill case and is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.