Attack on girlfriend leads to prison

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A man with a criminal history of domestic violence spanning nearly two decades has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for assaulting his girlfriend over a 2-1/2-hour period in June. Jonathan Oliver Baldridge, 36, was sentenced Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to assault and coercion charges, admitting he attacked his girlfriend of five months, according to a release issued by the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office. Medford police arrested Baldridge on June 3 after he strangled the woman and twisted her thumb until it made a loud “popping” sound, police said. As terms of the negotiated plea agreement, a separate felony case charging him with tampering with a witness was dismissed. Jackson County Circuit Court records show the case was Baldridge’s seventh domestic violence conviction since 2000, and his fourth felony conviction. The earliest of Baldridge’s felony convictions dates back to an August 2000 incident in which he ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and third-degree assault. Baldridge pleaded guilty to felony third-degree assault in 2003 and felony second-degree assault and misdemeanor fourth-degree assault in 2011. Court records also show that Baldridge pleaded down to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault in a 2006 case in which a woman needed oral surgery because of her injuries. Circuit Judge Lisa Greif handed Baldridge consecutive sentences totaling 90 months on the felony charges of coercion and fourth-degree assault consisting of domestic violence. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at @ MTCrimeBeat .