AUBURN — A local man agreed Wednesday to let a judge find him guilty of attacking a friend with a baseball bat a year ago for flirting with his girlfriend.

Nathan Evans, 21, of 59 Northern Avenue Heights pleaded no contest to aggravated assault, though a judge said she would enter a guilty plea for the crime.

The Class B charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but Evans and prosecutors agreed to a five-year sentence with at least four years suspended plus three years of probation.

That means Evans won’t serve more than a year in jail, but could argue for less time behind bars at his sentencing, which is scheduled for the end of January. He remains free on cash bail. Prosecutors are likely to argue that Evans should serve a full year in jail.

His plea came one day before a jury trial was set to start on a charge of elevated aggravated assault, three charges of aggravated assault and one charge of burglary. The first charge is a Class A crime, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. That charge was dropped Wednesday, along with two of the aggravated assault charges and the burglary charge.

Assistant District Attorney Jim Andrews said that had the case gone to trial, he would have called witnesses and presented evidence of the crime. Witnesses would have said that on the night of Nov. 15, 2013, Cheryl Seaborne and her husband, Jermaine, were at home in their Main Street apartment in Lewiston when two men known to the Seabornes came in and started assaulting Jermaine Seaborne.

Cheryl Seaborne told police that Evans used a “shiny blue baseball bat” to beat Seaborne on his head and upper body. Evans’ accomplice used his fists to punch Jermaine Seaborne, Andrews said.

The two men continued to beat Seaborne after he had fallen to the floor and yelled, “Stop!” repeatedly, Andrews said Cheryl Seaborne told police. Evans and Remone Williams fled the scene in Evans’ blue Crown Victroria sedan, she told police, according to Andrews.

Evans had reportedly been upset that Jermaine Seaborne had been calling and texting Evans’ girlfriend, Ashley McCarthy, Andrews said.

When police arrived at the Seabornes’ home, they found Jermaine bleeding from the face and head and lying in a “large amount of blood” on the kitchen floor, Andrews said.

Seaborne suffered a fractured skull and jaw, lost four teeth, and received several stitches to his head and hand. He has ongoing substantial migraine headache issues and extensive dental work, Andrews said.

Evans disputed he used a bat during the assault.

Defense attorney Henry Griffin said his client had no prior criminal record.

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