Published by mpotyrala on 03 Jun 2009 at 09:42 am
Domestic violence leads to jail term
By Karen McCowan
The Register-Guard
A 20-year-old man who lost both parents in a 2004 domestic violence incident was sentenced Tuesday on a felony domestic violence charge.
Tomas Ortega Benitez Jr., now a Salem college student, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 36 months of probation after pleading guilty to assaulting his brother-in-law at an April 4 family gathering in Springfield. He also was ordered to complete a substance abuse evaluation program and to have no contact with the victim and his family.
Benitez told Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Billings that he punched his sister’s husband after a niece and nephew told him the couple were fighting and that the man had previously struck his sister.
