CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – A Cape May resident has been sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder and aggravated assault charges in a domestic violence case involving his then-pregnant fiancee, according to the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office.

County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland said John P. Linnington, 33, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury on May 16, with the prison term subject to the No Early Release Act. Linnington also is subject to five years’ parole supervision upon release and no contact with the victim.

Sutherland said Linnington was initially charged on April 11, 2022, and then indicted on Oct. 17, 2023, as a result of an investigation by detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit, after it was reported he had committed multiple acts of domestic violence against his fiancée.

On March 21 Linnington plead guilty to first-degree attempted murder, second-degree aggravated assault on a domestic violence victim by strangulation and third-degree contempt of a judicial order.

Sutherland acknowledged the Special Victims Unit and Senior Assistant Prosecutor Bryna Batten for their work in securing the conviction.