A Lincoln County Grand Jury indicted an Alna man March 10 on one misdemeanor charge of assault, though he was originally charged with felony aggravated assault.
Kysten Wallace, 29, was arrested Dec. 5, 2014 after Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Drake responded to the report of an assault at an address on Hemlock Drive in Jefferson.
During Drake’s investigation, a female relative of Wallace’s alleged Wallace repeatedly pushed her, she struck him in self-defense, and Wallace then choked her, according to an affidavit by Drake.
“She said she couldn’t [breathe] during the assault,” Drake wrote.
Wallace alleged the woman punched him seven times and he only touched her when he pushed her away, according to the affidavit.
Drake observed a small amount of blood on the woman’s face and “what appeared to be scratches or red marks on her neck area,” he wrote, while “Mr. Wallace had blood on his face and appeared to have a bloody nose.”
The portion of Maine’s aggravated assault statute Drake referenced in Wallace’s jail admission paperwork includes an element of “Bodily injury to another under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life” including strangulation, or “the intentional impeding of the breathing or circulation of the blood of another person by applying pressure on the person’s throat or neck.”
Wallace was released under a supervised release contract Dec. 8, 2014 after posting $500 cash bail, personnel at Two Bridges Regional Jail said at the time.
If convicted of the class D charge of assault, Wallace could face up to 364 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine, according to the Maine Criminal Code.
Wallace is due to be arraigned on the charge in Lincoln County Superior court on April 13 at 8:30 a.m.
Wallace’s attorney, Jonathan Handelman, had no comment on the case.
