AUGUSTA — A Biddeford man has been sentenced to nine months in the York County Jail for violating the Maine Civil Rights Act.

Attorney General William J. Schneider said 36-year-old Adam Goodwin pleaded guilty in York County Superior Court to assault, interference with constitutional and civil rights, and a criminal violation of a civil rights injunction. Justice G. Arthur Brennan sentenced Goodwinn to serve nine months.

Schneider said the victim, Carl Donaldson, an African-American, was waiting for an order at Rapid Ray’s Diner in Saco with his female companion last December when Goodwin entered the diner. The woman was Caucasian.

Goodwin made a racially derogatory remark to the couple that Donaldson replied to. When Donaldson turned his back, Goodwin punched him in the head.

At the time of the assault, Goodwin was under an injunction for a 2008 assault on a Jewish man. Following that attack, the Maine Superior Court ordered Goodwin not to engage in future violations of the Civil Rights Act.

Since 1992, the Attorney General’s Office has obtained over 200 injunctions. There have been only eight criminal violations of these orders, all resulting in significant jail sentences.

“It is unacceptable that acts of violence are committed against complete strangers because of their race or national origin. We will continue to vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit crimes driven by hatred and intolerance,” Schneider said.