Man Convicted For Assaulting Olmsted County Detention Deputy

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - An Olmsted County man has admitted to a felony assault charge for an attack on a detention deputy.

33-year-old Joseph Martin today entered a guilty plea to a fourth-degree assault charge through a plea agreement that resulted in the dismissal of a third-degree assault charge and a gross misdemeanor count of assault. The charge stems from an incident in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center in December 2022.

Martin was accused of attacking a fellow detainee in the jail before he assaulted a 70-year-old detention deputy when he tried to intervene in the altercation. The deputy was punched in the head during the fracas.

Court records indicate Martin was previously sentenced to 28 months in prison for punching and knocking out two men at a bar in Dover and a domestic assault conviction for an attack on his girlfriend and 2021. Martin is scheduled to be sentenced in May. State sentencing guidelines recommend a 19-month prison sentence for his latest conviction and Olmsted County prosecutors have stated they will ask the court to order him to serve the time consecutively to his existing prison sentence.