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Assault plea nets one-year sentence White City man used hatchet-like device By CHRIS BRISTOL A White City man accused of attacking his girlfriend and her estranged husband with a hatchet-like weapon has avoided hard time, for now. Jess "Butch" Martin, whose rap sheet includes convictions for rape and robbery, was sentenced Wednesday to one year in jail after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of fourth-degree assault. He also was ordered to pay restitution of $263. Martin, 51, faced a mandatory minimum of 7 1/2 years in prison had he been convicted of first-degree assault, the most serious of two charges that prosecutors filed after the July 27 attack. Prosecutor John Bondurant said he was forced to reduce charges mainly because the victims, Nancy Bennett and David Lindgren, were uncooperative. In fact, Lindgren disappeared after he was released from jail in Klamath County on a parole complaint and hasn't been heard from since. "This guy (Martin) deserves a lot more years" in prison, Bondurant told the court, adding, "This is the best I can do here." Prosecutors said the attack occurred hours after Martin confronted the victims in the White City home he shared with Bennett. Lindgren, a carnival worker in town for the county fair, suffered a fractured skull and two cuts to his face. Bennett was struck in the face and received dozens of stitches for a cut to her chin. Police initially described Martin's weapon as a hatchet. It was never found, and Bondurant said Wednesday it may have been a sharpened pipe of some type. Jeni Feinberg, Martin's court-appointed attorney, told the court that her client's version of events differed from the prosecution's. Bennett was probably struck by accident when she tried to intervene, Feinberg said. Even so, the reduced charge was too good to pass up, she said. In fact, when Judge Patricia Crain wondered whether she might have a conflict of interest in the case, having once represented one of Bennett's relatives as an attorney, Feinberg quickly interrupted, "We don't care." Presumably a potential conflict would have meant a delay in the case until a new judge could schedule a new hearing. In the meantime, one or both of the victims might have become more cooperative. Despite his good fortune, Martin probably won't be a free man anytime soon -- federal prosecutors indicted him two weeks ago on an unrelated firearms charge. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced as an armed career criminal. Such a designation typically carries a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years under federal guidelines. "The way this case went left a bitter taste in my mouth," Bondurant said. "At least I feel a little better knowing he's got that thing hanging over him." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA