Man gets 30 years for beating wife with bat

LIBBY — Joshua Peterson, 36, will serve 30 years in prison without the chance at parole after beating his wife nearly to death with a baseball bat last year.

Peterson pleaded guilty in March to aggravated assault. He originally had been charged with attempted deliberate homicide and assault with a weapon. Those charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

Citing the extreme violence of the attack and evidence of a persistent trait of volatility, District Judge James Wheelis on Monday exceeded the recommended sentence of 25 years in prison with seven years suspended presented by Lincoln County Deputy Attorney Joe Cik and Lincoln County Attorney Bernie Cassidy.

Defense attorney L. Jason Bryan requested a sentence of five years in prison with 25 years suspended.

Surrounded by family and friends wearing purple and donning purple ribbon temporary tattoos, victim Tracee Peterson held closely to her oldest daughter, Hailey.

Before his ruling, Wheelis allowed Joshua Peterson to address his wife, children, relatives and the emergency responders who helped Tracee Peterson after the brutal beating on Sept. 28, 2013 at their Troy home.

“Tracee Jo, seeing you after I hurt you was the worst feeling of my life,” Joshua Peterson said. “I destroyed my best friend. I continue to pray for you and the children daily.”

Addressing Tracee’s parents, Ed and Trish Hanson, Peterson said he was sorry for all the sleepless nights and worries.

Tracee Peterson said she believed her husband’s words were authentic.

“A lot of people said he was coerced by his lawyer to say those things, but those were his words,” Tracee Peterson said. “I’ve heard them before. I don’t know if he knows what ‘I’m sorry’ really means.”

Tracee Peterson was so badly injured that doctors originally gave her a 2 percent chance of survival.

Bryan’s presentencing memorandum described Joshua Peterson’s childhood as lonely and violent.

On the night of the attack, Bryan wrote that Joshua Peterson believed his wife was walking to another room to grab a gun and possibly shoot him. In a panic, Bryan wrote, his client hit his wife in the head with a baseball bat three times.

“Joshua understands and accepts that he will never again have a relationship of any kind with Tracee,” Bryan’s document read.

Johnson writes for the Western News in Libby.