AUBURN — A local man was sentenced to spend 18 months of a five-year sentence in prison for hitting a man with a baseball bat over a laundry dispute.

Rasaun Hampton, 38, of 12 Whipple St. pleaded guilty in Androscoggin County Superior Court on Wednesday to a charge of aggravated assault.

Police said Hampton hit Eric Wright, 30, with a bat in the kitchen of Wright’s apartment at 143 Bartlett St. in Lewiston on April 3. Hampton claimed his clothes were being washed in Wright’s apartment. Wright denied the claim and ordered Hampton out of his apartment. Hampton returned, picked up a bat and struck Wright in the head, knocking him to the floor, according to a police affidavit.

Witnesses said Hampton had been staying with Heather Blair, 23, in the apartment above Wright’s. The two argued that evening over photographs of other women on Hampton’s phone. After Hampton smashed Blair’s phone on the floor, she went down to Wright’s apartment.

Blair had washed some of Hampton’s clothes in Wright’s apartment, but had taken them back upstairs, she told police.

Wright was admitted to the intensive care unit at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he was treated for a 3-inch laceration above his left eye, a fractured skull and bleeding in his brain, according to the affidavit.

Hampton fled the scene but was located by police and arrested the next day.

Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped other charges, including elevated aggravated assault, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

After serving his prison term, Hampton is scheduled to spend two years on probation, during which he will be barred from having any contact with Wright.

According to court records, Hampton has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for aggravated drug-trafficking and assault.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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