Ex-Malmstrom airman pleads guilty to assault - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Ex-Malmstrom airman pleads guilty to assault

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A former Malmstrom Air Force Base airman pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting a Great Falls real estate agent in May 2011.

Airman 1st Class Bradley Joseph Crisman was arrested May 12 after the agent told law enforcement that he tied her up and attempted to sexually assault her after she showed him a home on Upper River Road. The woman was not identified in charging documents.

Crisman pleaded guilty to one count of felony sexual assault, which was amended from an original count of sexual intercourse without consent.

While being questioned on the stand by his attorney Matt McKittrick, Crisman admitted to tying up the agent and taking off her pants and underwear without her permission. He also admitted to touching her near her genitals, but he denied penetrating her with his finger, an act investigators previously said Crisman committed.

Crisman talked sparingly while on the stand, mostly giving one-word answers as his attorney went through the factual basis to which Crisman entered his plea.

Charges of aggravated kidnapping, assault with a weapon, tampering with a witness and two counts of tampering with physical evidence were dropped by the state as part of the plea agreement.

Crisman entered into what is known as a nonbinding plea agreement with the prosecution, meaning that he does not have the option of withdrawing his guilty plea if the judge does not accept the terms of the agreement. In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecution agreed to drop the other charges against Crisman and to not seek any modification for parole or to designate Crisman as a violent offender.

While the prosecution won’t seek those conditions, District Judge Kenneth Neill, who will hand down the sentence April 10, could still include them in the sentence.

The agreement did not specify what sentence the prosecution will seek, but Cascade County Attorney John Parker said during the hearing that he intends to argue for a “lengthy prison sentence.”

Parker and McKittrick agreed that the proposed sentence would likely be argued further in April and asked Neill to set aside two hours for the hearing.