By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 27-year-old Alabaster man has pleaded not guilty to allegedly raping and strangling a female victim in late 2014 after he was indicted on the charges by a Shelby County grand jury this summer.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Matthew Zachary Spain, who lists an address on Windsor Court in Alabaster, on Nov. 8, 2014, and charged him with felony counts of first-degree rape and domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation and a misdemeanor second-degree unlawful imprisonment charge.

According to his arrest warrants, Spain’s charges stemmed from a Nov. 7 incident in which he allegedly “choked and strangled” a female victim. He also allegedly did “knowingly restrict and restrain” the victim against her will and allegedly did “engage in sexual intercourse with (the victim) by forcible compulsion,” according to his warrants.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves bound the charges over to a Shelby County grand jury on April 2, and the grand jury indicted Spain on all three charges on June 18.

Spain entered not guilty pleas to all three charges on July 28, and is set to appear in court for a status call at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 5.

Spain posted bonds totaling $250,000 and was released from the Shelby County Jail on Nov. 12, 2014.

First-degree rape is a Class A felony, and is punishable by up to life in prison upon conviction. If convicted of the domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation charge, a Class B felony, Spain could face up to 20 years in prison.