A Havre man convicted of domestic assault after breaking his girlfriend’s nose during an argument on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation received a 4 1/2-year prison sentence Monday in U.S. District Court in Great Falls.
James John Russell McConnell, 44, who pleaded guilty in September to domestic assault by a habitual offender, received a 54-month in prison and three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris handed down the sentence, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme’s office.
Morris ordered that the sentence be served after McConnell serves a 7-month sentence for violating conditions of release for a previous conviction.
McConnell, who has three previous convictions for domestic assault, assaulted his girlfriend on June 23, 2018, in Hays by bear-hugging her to where it was painful and hard to breathe, the prosecution said in court records. McConnell also verbally threatened her.
The victim was treated for a broken nose at the Northern Montana Hospital.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart prosecuted the case, which Fort Belknap law enforcement and the FBI investigated.
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Write to Paul Dragu at [email protected]
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