Libby woman sentenced for bucket assault

A Libby woman accused of assaulting her boyfriend with a beer bottle and a metal bucket earlier this year pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Monday, Dec. 11.

Crystal B. Jones-Hernandez, 36, initially entered a not guilty plea on July 10. On Monday, she pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor partner or family member assault.

District Judge Matt Cuffe sentenced her to one year, with all but 24 hours, suspended. Jones-Hernandez received credit for serving five days in the Lincoln County Detention Center. She has been free since posting $25,000 bond on July 3. She was also ordered to pay $585 in fines and fees. Jones-Hernandez told Cuffe she could pay the amount. She must complete anger management classes.

The case began on the evening of June 20 when Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Brent Faulkner and deputies Derek Breiland and James Derryberry responded to a residence on U.S. 2, a few miles south of Libby. The person who called 911 said a man had been hit in the face with a beer bottle. Breiland spoke to the alleged victim, a 47-year-old man, who was sitting on the porch in a lawn chair. He had a large cut on the right side of his face in the area of his eye and cheekbone. The man refused medical attention and initially declined to explain what had happened.

The man then said he had tripped while walking out the front door, but Breiland reported the cut was not consistent with falling onto a wooden deck. When the officer asked the man where Jones-Hernandez was, he said he didn’t know. They have been in an intimate relationship for five years and when Breiland asked again where she may be, the man said she was at the back of the property.

Breiland then spoke with the neighbors, who told him the couple has been fighting for five years. The man said he hadn’t called law enforcement before, but he had enough. He said the woman struck the man with a beer bottle and he fell to the ground. The man’s wife said the woman then struck him with an object that she wasn’t sure what it was.

The man said he has seen Jones-Hernandez punch and hit the alleged victim and he walked away. The man also said he has never seen the man strike the defendant. The witness also said the defendant said she didn’t “know what happened to his face.”

The man also said he was working on his trailer one day when he heard gunshots coming from the property. He said he watched Jones-Hernandez shooting a gun at the man’s son, but a bullet had never hit him, according to the charging document.

When Breiland finished speaking with the witnesses, Faulkner said the victim told him she had struck him with a beer bottle. Both deputies searched for Jones-Hernandez and during it, Breiland found a bottle with pink liquid inside. After an online search, the deputy determined the beverage was vodka mixed with pink lemonade.

Both deputies then reported finding a small camp set up in the middle of some trees at the back of the property. There was a sleeping bag and blankets, but after searching the property officers didn’t find Jones-Hernandez.

When Breiland returned to where Faulkner was waiting with the victim, he said the woman had struck the man with a metal bucket that held a citronella candle. The man’s broken glasses were laying on the ground next to the candle. Breiland then asked the victim where the woman may go and he didn’t answer at first, grabbed his face and hunched over in pain. He also appeared to be dizzy and rubbed his head.

The man, who appeared to be intoxicated, said he wasn’t sure what happened and had blacked out after being struck. He continued to refuse medical attention, but wanted the woman arrested because of what she allegedly did to him, the charging document said.

Breiland wrote in his report that Jones-Hernandez had two prior partner or family member assault convictions in Oregon in 2008 and 2015. He also reported she was charged with felony assault in 2018 in Oregon, but there was no disposition listed.