Former actor guilty of assaulting ex-girlfriend day after early prison release
Former actor guilty of assaulting ex-girlfriend day after early prison release
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Jason Hoganson attacked Rachel Usher outside her flat as she waited for the lifts. A former Hollywood actor has been found guilty of attacking his former partner the day after he was released from prison under a scheme to cut jail overcrowding. Heavily tattooed Jason Hoganson, 53, was photographed raising a thumb as he was released from HMP Durham on September 10 last year, having served half of an 18-month jail sentence for assaulting his ex-partner Rachel Usher and breaching a restraining order.
![[The former actor assaulted his former partner just one day after his release]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/06/14/Northumbria-Police.jpg)
The following day he was arrested in Newcastle’s West End after going to Ms Usher’s flat and slapping her. Hoganson, who had a leading role in the 1987 film Empire State, has now been returned to custody and is facing further time behind bars for the assault.
![[He was released as part of a scheme to reduce prison overcrowding]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/06/14/PA-77416651.jpg)
A court heard Ms Usher had since “very sadly passed away” on 30 October, but a district judge ruled that a trial should still go ahead with her statement as evidence. He was found guilty of assaulting Ms Usher and two counts of breaching a restraining order by going to her home on September 11 and sending her a letter from prison a week earlier.
The defendant was removed from court in the middle of his evidence after he started shouting obscenities at prosecutor Lisa Callum, and was not present to hear the verdict. Newcastle Magistrates’ Court heard a restraining order was made in July 2023 banning Hoganson from contacting Ms Usher “in any way whatsoever”.
