ALPENA — If a defendant wanted to avoid going to prison, he shouldn’t have gotten into a fight at the jail, Judge Ed Black told Joseph Baker in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Monday.

Black sentenced Baker, 36, to 18 months to 10 years in prison for charges of aggravated stalking and possession of a controlled substance.

When Baker pleaded guilty to the charges in August, the prosecution agreed to ask for no more than a year’s incarceration, which would have kept Baker at the Alpena County Jail.

Baker tried to withdraw his plea when he learned Black wouldn’t abide by that request because Baker had gotten into fights at the jail, including one the day before Monday’s hearing.

Baker legally couldn’t withdraw his plea, because Black’s stiffer penalty was the defendant’s own fault, Black said.

Also in court on Monday:

A man nearing the end of one jail sentence will start another after he admitted, for sentencing purposes, that he physically assaulted a woman late last year.

William Gauthier, 42, pleaded no contest to accusations he grabbed a woman by her neck and squeezed tightly, then hit her on the head with a tablet.

He also pleaded no contest to hitting a woman on the forehead on a separate day.

A no contest plea is treated as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes.

Gauthier, currently incarcerated at the Alpena County Jail on separate charges, will be sentenced for the assault in November.

He is scheduled to complete the current sentence before that date.

Via his attorney, Gauthier asked Black to consider a personal recognizance bond when he finishes his current sentence so he can get out of jail until his next sentencing.

Gauthier’s involvement in a recent altercation at the jail may impact that decision, Black said.