An Effingham County man whose initial trial ended in a mistrial has pled guilty in Superior Court and faces a 15-year sentence.

Ryan Daniel Herrington pled guilty to one count of false imprisonment and one count of possession of methamphetamine and he will serve 15 years, with three in prison and 12 on probation. He also received a five-year sentence for his meth possession charge, which will run concurrently to his other sentence and take into account time he has served in jail already.

Herrington was indicted on three counts of aggravated assault, one count of kidnapping, three counts of possession of a knife or firearm during commission of certain crimes and one count of possession of methamphetamine for an April 20, 2009 incident.

His latest indictment also tacks on one count each of trafficking in meth and criminal attempt to traffic in meth.

Herrington’s first court proceeding ended in a mistrial in July 2010, after an investigator discussed during testimony another drug investigation involving Herrington. He subsequently was re-indicted by a grand jury.

Defense attorneys argued that the prosecution intentionally goaded them into moving for a mistrial and filed an appeal.

In the original indictment, Herrington is alleged to have assaulted his victim with an intent to rape and also threatened to use the knife to kill her. He also is accused of hitting her repeatedly with a chair.

But his victim defended herself and wielded a knife against Herrington, stabbing him several times. He was rushed to Memorial University Medical Center with severe injuries.

His original indictment charged him with one count of kidnapping, three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of possession of a knife or firearm during the commission of a crime and one count of possession of meth.

His kidnapping charge was reduced to false imprisonment.