Attacker gets more lenient sentence

The district attorney’s office had hoped to get the maximum sentence for a man convicted in an ax attack. Instead, he got probation.

In May, a jury found Richard Bustamante guilty of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was found not guilty of attempted murder.

But his defense attorney, Joe Romero, requested a new trial, alleging that prosecutors hadn’t provided all of the necessary medical records in the case. Prosecutor Tom Clayton called that assertion “dead wrong.”

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