A man who gained notoriety for having gone through six trials in Hamilton County with not one conviction — even for crimes as serious as murder — received 18 years today for aggravated kidnapping.

A jury convicted Jereme Little in April in a case from the late 1990s in which he kidnapped a man and forced him to eat dog feces, apparently in an attempt to keep him from talking about a botched robbery they had committed earlier the same day.

In 2003, Hamilton County law enforcement officials declared Mr. Little one of the area’s top five career criminals because of his numerous arrests for crimes throughout his youth and adulthood.

Testifying at the sentencing hearing, Mr. Little acknowledged the trials he had gone through but proclaimed his innocence.

“I’m not an angel,” Mr. Little said, “But if I could show my past life in reverse, it would show that each time I stood trial in this courtroom for whatever situation, I was innocent of it.”

Hamilton County Assistant District Attorney Boyd Patterson, who prosecuted Mr. Little in April, told Judge Rebecca Stern that the defendant did not deserve leniency.

“If there was ever anyone in Hamilton County that deserves the maximum, it’s Jereme Little,” Mr. Patterson said.

Mr. Little could have received up to 25 years in prison.

For complete coverage, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.

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