Man sentenced for assault

EPHRATA — A Grand Coulee man is spending a year in jail for beating his wife after she refused to have sex with him.

Lorenzo Stewart, 42, pleaded guilty to charges of assault in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment — domestic violence and tampering with physical evidence.

Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz sentenced him to a year, the maximum in the sentencing range.

Stewart spotted the victim when she was speaking on a pay phone and stopped to pick her up, according to a Grant County Sheriff’s report.

He asked for sex and when the victim told him no, he started to “freak out.” He threw her around, punched and kicked her and threatened to rape her, according to the sheriff’s report. He also told her he would take the children away and kill her.

When she tried calling the police, but he took the phone away. She tried escaping through the front door, but he grabbed her, dragging her back into the house, according to the sheriff’s report.

Then he took her into the bedroom, making her lay on a sheet while he threw knives at her. One cut her scalp. She managed to escape out a back door, running toward some motels, according to the police report.

When Stewart caught up to her, she begged him to take her to the hospital, which he did, according to the police report. Sheriff’s deputies responding to the hospital noted she had bruises on her arms, upper body and legs and a 2-inch cut on the top of her head, according to Grant County Superior Court records.

When police initially searched the house, they spotted blood stains throughout the house. After leaving, they returned to find Stewart in the residence.

He was initially charged with assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree, assault in violation of a protection order, harassment, tampering with physical evidence, interfering with reporting domestic violence and resisting arrest. The charges were lessened as part of a plea bargain with the prosecutor’s office, according to court records.