Plea deal comes in assault case
Jun. 1—A suspended sentence has been given to an Elmore City area man on the allegation he assaulted a family member who claimed he was showing children how to make bombs.
The plea agreement for Hardford Bennett, 62, came during a recent hearing in Garvin County District Court.
Bennett was given a two-year suspended sentence with one of those to be supervised by state officials.
He faced a felony count of domestic assault and battery by strangulation.
A family member of Bennett claimed he assaulted her on April 20 after he had gotten upset because of an argument the day before.
She told authorities Bennett had sprayed fluid in her face and eyes making it difficult to see or breath.
Then she claimed he threw her to the ground where he strangled her using a head lock.
The woman said she lost her sight and thoughy she was dying before regaining consciousness enough to get away and report the incident.
After hearing the woman's claims of Bennett showing children how to make a bomb authorities reported fining pipe, gunpowder and other items in his shed.
As part of the recent plea deal Bennett is to undergo a mental health evaluation, while all fines and court fees were waived because the defendant is 100 percent disabled.
----A prison term now awaits a Lindsay man of stalking a woman with a whole lot of texts.
In fact, it was the past record of Michael Lee Hassler, 37, that played a big part in last week's new sentence.
Hassler's most recent charge came earlier this year when he was formally accused to stalking a former girlfriend by sending more than 300 texts over a two-week period.
The woman was granted a protective order against Hassler in December 2021.
This only adds to his past as Hassler has convictions of stalking, twice violating protective orders and attempting to intimidate a witness, all in Grady or Canadian counties in 2018 and 2019.
He also has a 2019 firearm possession conviction in Garvin County.
A court hearing on his recent Garvin County case didn't happen last week because he already had four years revoked from his suspended sentence given in his Grady County case, which possibly involved the same woman.
