AUGUSTA – An Augusta man was sentenced to nine months in prison for assaulting his wife in their home during an argument that took place in front of their 9-month-old.

Maxwell D. Mendez, 24, was convicted last week by a jury in Kennebec County Superior Court of domestic-violence assault. The judge also found him guilty of violating conditions of release in connection with the same incident, which occurred Oct. 20, 2009, in Augusta. Sentencing took place Monday.

Mendez’s wife, Maranda Mendez, told Justice Robert Murray that she supported the prosecutor’s recommendation of a 364-day sentence for the misdemeanor offenses.

“This was not an isolated incident,” she said. “I am in very intensive (post-traumatic stress disorder) therapy and my daughter was in therapy, as well, for night terrors.”

In a sentencing memorandum, Assistant District Attorney James Mitchell Jr. said Mendez was “found guilty of assaulting his wife by punching her on the side of the face or jaw during an argument about the strangling of a kitten and the discovery of a pornographic magazine.”

Mendez has been jailed since July. He had pleaded guilty Sept. 8 to a charge of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and failure to appear.

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In that Aug. 21, 2009 incident, which occurred in Pittston and was described as an incident of road rage, Mendez was sentenced to five years in jail, with all but six months suspended and two years’ probation.

Because the nine-month assault sentence handed out Monday is concurrent with the earlier sentence, Mendez will serve an additional three months connected to the assault.

Mendez’s attorney, Robert Ruffner, said Maxwell Mendez filed for divorce Monday, and that he had lost his job as a result of his convictions.

 


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