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A Virginia Beach man was sentenced to 26 years to serve in an emotional hearing in Suffolk Circuit Court on Thursday.

Timothy Wayne Carr, 50, was found guilty in February 2020 of attempted capital murder and other charges stemming from an assault on a family member that took place early on July 4, 2019.

That night, Carr had driven from Virginia Beach to the woman’s home on Holbrook Arch in Suffolk and parked around the corner. He retrieved a ladder and pruning shears from the shed and spied on the woman through her second-story window.

According to statements in Thursday’s hearing, Carr became enraged when he saw the woman sitting on the bed texting someone, assuming it was another man. He kicked in the back door and assaulted the woman for about an hour — punching her, choking her, and more — leaving her with injuries including a broken arm. The woman ultimately passed out on the floor.

In what Judge L. Wayne Farmer said was a first in his law career, there was an audio recording of the entire crime, as Carr had activated a recording device in his pocket. The recording was played at trial.

The woman — who told the court she preferred to be referred to as a survivor, rather than a victim — testified at length during the trial but did not take the stand on Thursday. She submitted a statement to the court of how the assault had impacted her.

Her brother attempted to testify about the effect on the family unit, but was prevented from doing so by an objection from the defense attorney, Andrew Sacks. Farmer upheld Sacks’ objection that the brother is not a victim by the official definition.

However, several people came forward to testify on behalf of Carr, a former security assistant at Bayside High School and girls’ basketball coach at Salem High School. They included both of his parents, his adult daughter, his best friend, two women whose daughters he had coached in basketball, and Donald Robertson, chief of staff for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. They all testified about positive impacts Carr had had on their life, and Sacks noted that Carr had no criminal record.

But prosecutors Marie Walls and Kara Webber noted in their arguments that Carr did not seem remorseful after the crime, fretting that it would “tarnish his reputation” — captured on the audio recording — even while the woman he had assaulted was still on the floor suffering.

In handing down his sentence, Farmer noted that Carr had put the woman through the pain of a trial rather than just taking responsibility for his crimes.

Carr was sentenced on charges of attempted capital murder, aggravated malicious wounding, shoot, stab, cut or wound, strangulation resulting in wounding or bodily injury, abduction with the intent to defile, sexual penetration with an object — force or mental incapacity, statutory burglary while armed and possession of burglary tools.