He assaulted a nurse. But the court didn’t buy his insanity plea.

A Saucier man was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a health care worker.

Harrison County District Attorney Joel Smith said in a news release that Lance Shelton Hagin, 35, pleaded guilty to simple assault on a peace officer on Aug. 20.

The maximum sentence for the charge is five years in prison. The charge is a felony and the term peace officer includes law enforcement, first responders and health care workers.

The assault happened in 2016 at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport. Smith said Hagin had been admitted to the hospital as a patient. Hospital surveillance video showed Hagin walking down a hall, grabbing a nurse from behind and choking her, Smith said.

He said Hagin attempted to use an insanity defense but it was determined that he was not legally insane at the time of the attack.

Hagin was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Larry Bourgeois.

This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 9:21 AM.