By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

A 22-year-old Prior Lake man was sentenced to serve up to two years of probation after pleading guilty Monday in Scott County court to his second domestic assault charge within a year.

Michael David Wittenberg was sentenced to a stay of imposition and was ordered to pay an $85 fine, complete a chemical use assessment, complete a domestic abuse evaluation and seek counseling as recommended by Scott County Judge Caroline H. Lennon after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic assault charge. A charge of domestic abuse by strangulation, a felony, was dismissed in a plea agreement.

Wittenberg was charged with domestic assault by strangulation and fifth-degree domestic assault of the same woman in September of 2008, according to court documents. Wittenberg was convicted of fifth-degree domestic assault in a plea agreement in that case in March of this year; the assault by strangulation charge was dismissed.

As a part of Wittenberg’s prior sentence, he was ordered to a year of probation with conditions of no same or similar offenses and to remain law abiding until March of 2010.

Wittenberg faced a maximum of three years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine for the domestic assault by strangulation charge and between 20 days and a year in jail and/or a $3,000 fine for the domestic assault charge.

On May 15, Wittenberg was arrested and jailed for allegedly strangling his girlfriend and then biting her ear after police were called to a report of a domestic assault at an apartment in the 16500 block of Franklin Trail.

When police arrived, an officer spoke with a woman who stated she was scared because Wittenberg bit and choked her following a verbal argument in the couple’s apartment, according to the criminal complaint. The woman told police she and Wittenberg lived together for just over a month.

The woman told police that she, Wittenberg and a friend were out drinking and when they returned to the couple’s apartment she and Wittenberg began arguing. The woman told police she went into the kitchen to make some food for the three of them, when Wittenberg called her into the bedroom.

When the woman walked into the bedroom, Wittenberg allegedly “slammed” her down on the bed and began choking her, the complaint stated. The woman told police she was unable to breath as a result of the alleged strangulation.

The woman told police, Wittenberg then bit her right ear and threatened to kill her and her family if she called police, the complaint stated. But after speaking with a friend, the woman decided to call police.Wittenberg told police that he and the woman were arguing, but denied that the argument turned physical.

Police also spoke with the third person in the apartment who stated the argument between the couple caused him to leave and go to another unit in the building where the woman showed up shortly later upset and crying. 

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.