Courts in Brief: Man pleads not guilty to simple assault

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Benedict Heart, 28, waived his preliminary hearing and pleaded not guilty to simple assault.

Heart is accused of striking a Southwest Multi-County Correction Center employee in the face several times Aug. 25, causing his victim physical pain, bruising and an eye injury, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim was acting in his official capacity as a corrections officer at the time of the alleged incident.

Simple assault on a peace officer is a Class C felony and is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Synthetic marijuana

A Dickinson man waived a preliminary hearing Monday and pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia.

Tyrel Hatzenbuhler, 31, was sentenced to two years with the North Dakota Department of Corrections with six months suspended for two years after he completes his incarceration on a revocation of probation charge.

Hatzenbuhler was found with a smoking device that had resin of three synthetic types of marijuana.

The contents were found in a vehicle operated by Hatzenbuhler, according to the complaint.

He will serve the 18-months concurrently with the sentence he is serving on a revocation of probation charge.

During a preliminary hearing Monday in Southwest District Court in Dickinson, attorney Jay Greenwood said his client, Hatzenbuhler, wanted to plead guilty so he could begin treatment as soon possible, which Judge H. Patrick Weir agreed with.

“I am all for people getting treatment with their incarceration,” Weir said.

Aggravated assault

Kary Kling, Bismarck, born 1982, will immediately begin serving three years with the North Dakota Department of Corrections after he violated the terms of his probation.

Kling pleaded guilty in 2009 to a Class C felony criminal mischief after he caused more than $2,000 in damage after smashing in the windows of a vehicle.

As terms of his probation in 2009, Kling was to remain law abiding, but he admitted in court Monday to allegations of assault, criminal trespass and disobedience of a judicial order in a March 2011.

Kling’s fines and fees will be converted to civil judgment and he will pay the remained of the restitution upon his release from jail.

The aggravated assault case against Donnel Taylor, 33, Dickinson, will also be bound over for future hearings.

Taylor, who appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Monday, is accused of choking his victim four times, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim believed to be a “family or household member” of Taylor, according to the complaint.

Aggravated assault involving a commission of domestic violence is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

By Betsy Simon

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