A plea arrangement with the state will send a Washington man to prison.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Russell Duke Jr. sentenced James “Jim” Harold Roberson, of Washington, to a prison term of 9 to 20 months. Based on his prior record, the most the Court could have imposed on Roberson was 11-20 months. Roberson was charged with assault, communicating threat and resist/delay/obstruct an officer after an incident to which Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded on Aug. 10, 2012.

Roberson pleaded guilty to the assault on his mother that took place that day. A 911 call took deputies to the house on VOA Road where Roberson and his mother lived. According to District Attorney Seth Edwards, Roberson’s mother told deputies at the time that her son had kicked the door to the home in, took off his mother’s glasses and hit her in the face several times. He then tipped her out of her wheelchair — this all prompted by an ongoing civil dispute in the family, Edwards said.

Deputies detained Roberson but had to pull over twice on the way to the Beaufort County Detention Center because of Roberson’s disruptive behavior.

According to Edwards, it was because of Roberson’s threats to his mother, saying that he would kill her when he got out of jail, that Edwards asked a judge to raise Roberson’s bond as a precautionary measure.

“As far as the facts are concerned, I did not expect his mother to be a cooperative witness despite the fact that this is the second time he’s assaulted his mother in a wheel chair,” Edwards said.

Roberson’s defense attorney Cherry Stokes chalked the incident, and others like it, up to Roberson’s ongoing alcohol problem.

“One thing I hear about Jim, all over the county: when he’s sober, he’s just as good a man as any in this county,” Stokes said.