Man who assaulted woman with hatchet sentenced to time served

A Spokane man who assaulted a woman with a hatchet after dragging her into a garage and demanding sex in 2012 was sentenced Wednesday and will soon be released. Greggory L. Pruett, 34, was sentenced to 26 months in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. He already has served a longer period of time since his arrest, about 28 months, in the Spokane County Jail and will be released after his sentencing is processed. “I just want the chance to make things right and get out of the system into the community,” Pruett said during his sentencing in Spokane County Superior Court. Pruett approached a woman in the alley behind 2002 E. First Ave. in December 2012 and asked to have sex. The woman told police that, after she refused, Pruett hit her in the head with a hatchet, knocking her to ground. He then dragged her into the garage and pulled down her pants before stealing her purse and running away. He hit her nine or 10 times with the hatchet, according to court records. Police found the woman bleeding from the side of her head, missing several teeth and barely able to move her arms, court records say. The first responding officer found two sets of shoe prints, a pool of blood and drag marks. A witness led police to Pruett’s home, where they found the hatchet, an ax and the woman’s purse hidden under a blanket. Pruett was arrested on charges of first-degree assault, robbery and kidnapping and held on a $100,000 bond. The charges were reduced through a plea deal. His attorney, Dennis Dressler, said Pruett has had time to think about his actions. Superior Court Judge James Triplet ordered Pruett to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation and pay more than $4,000 in restitution and fees. The victim of the assault was not contacted about the plea deal.Pruett said he was under the influence of LSD during the assault and doesn’t remember it happening. His wife, Stacy Pruett, 25, said in addition to drug and alcohol habits, Greggory Pruett has a history of mental illness – including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and multiple personality disorder – and was repeatedly raped by his father as a child. Still, he was deemed fit to appear in court after a psychiatric evaluation. “He was one of those kids that nobody listened to growing up,” Stacy Pruett, who married her husband in 2010, said of her husband in an interview after Wednesday’s hearing. “He was declared incapable of learning at age 5.”