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MOAB — A former Grand County sheriff's deputy accused of knocking his wife unconscious and seriously injuring her during a domestic dispute has been ordered to stand trial.
Judge Lyle Anderson ordered Austin Lynn Stubblefield to stand trial on one count of assault, a class A misdemeanor, following a brief preliminary hearing Tuesday.
Stubblefield's wife, who has bipolar disorder, testified during the hearing that she was intoxicated, "manic" and off her medication when she and her husband began arguing on Sept. 20.
As the argument became more heated, the woman said she swung a laptop computer and an unplugged flat iron at Stubblefield. Her husband "appeared fearful" and was trying to get away from her, the woman testified, but also was calling her "a loser and a drunk."
The woman said she knocked Stubblefield's glasses off a dresser, which made him angry. The next thing she remembered was waking up on the bathroom floor with Stubblefield cleaning blood off her hands.
Two friends took the woman to Moab Regional Hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with a concussion, a broken nose and a fractured right eye socket. She also had cuts to her right ear that required 13 stitches to close and a chipped left front tooth, according to testimony offered Tuesday.
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A Grand County sheriff's deputy was arrested Saturday following a fight with his wife that left the woman with a number of serious injuries, according to investigators.Stubblefield, 35, declined to speak with investigators when they went to his home, Moab police officer Justin Olsen testified. Officers did notice though that Stubblefield appeared to have cuts and scrapes on his face, Olsen said.
A Grand County dispatcher provided investigators with photographs of the injuries that she said Stubblefield sent to her, according to Olsen. The dispatcher also told officers that Stubblefield said he had struck his wife in self-defense, Olsen said.
Court records show that before Stubblefield and his wife married in August, he sought a protective order against her. The May 16 petition was granted on a temporary basis, but Stubblefield asked the judge to dismiss it 12 days later.
Stubblefield began working for the Grand County Sheriff's Office in March 2013. He was put on paid administrative leave following his arrest and has since resigned, Grand County Sheriff Steven White said Tuesday.
The criminal case against Stubblefield is being prosecuted by the Emery County Attorney's Office to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. A two-day jury trial is set to begin Jan. 28.
