ELLSWORTH – A 19-year-old man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s father pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault charge Wednesday in Hancock County Superior Court.

Jack D. Wentworth Jr. of Township 8 also faces a charge of manslaughter in connection with the death of 50-year-old Daniel Evans Wallace of Franklin last September.

But in a plea agreement reached by his attorney and the state prosecutor, the manslaughter charge would be dropped and Wentworth would serve three years in prison on the aggravated assault charge.

Deputy Attorney General William Stokes said the agreement also would require Wentworth to serve four years of probation, seek alcohol counseling and participate in a domestic violence prevention program.

Stokes said the deal is an “appropriate resolution,” given the totality of the evidence and the defendant’s possible self-defense argument.

“This was really a compromise,” he said.

Several members of Wallace’s family sat quietly in the courtroom Wednesday morning as Justice Roland Cole questioned Wentworth about his plea. Althea Wentworth watched from her seat as her stepson answered only “yes sir” and “no sir” to the judge’s questions.

The fatal attack occurred Sept. 20 at a home on North Street in Ellsworth. Stokes said Wentworth, who was dating Wallace’s 20-year-old daughter, Nina, at the time, became angry after a former boyfriend’s phone number showed up on her cell phone.

Wentworth threw the phone into the woods. When Nina Wallace and her father went to retrieve it, Wentworth met up with them and a fight broke out. He punched the older man repeatedly, causing serious face and head injuries, Stokes said.

In her statement to police, Nina Wallace recalled that her father was carrying a piece of wood to protect himself against Wentworth.

Wallace later slipped into a coma and was hospitalized until his death on Oct. 9. The state medical examiner ruled the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Attorney Christopher Largay said his client accepted the plea deal because he is anxious to serve his time and put the incident behind him. Wentworth’s sentencing likely will be in May, and Largay said he plans to argue for a lesser prison term for his client.

“He has stepped up to the plate and accepted responsibility,” Largay said.

The day after the fatal fight, Travis Battis, 23, of Hancock was charged with assaulting Wentworth in an apparent retaliation for the beating.

In court Wednesday, Stokes identified Battis as the former boyfriend whose phone number showed up on Nina Wallace’s cell phone. His trial is scheduled for June 17 in Ellsworth District Court.