NORTHAMPTON — A change-of-plea hearing in Hampshire Superior Court for a 62-year-old man originally charged with rape and strangulation was almost derailed Tuesday when the defendant contested the prosecutor’s statement of facts in the case.

After a brief conference with his attorney and a Spanish-language interpreter, Edgar Hernandez changed his answer and admitted to facts supporting charges of suffocation and assault and battery. He was sentenced to probation and time served.

Assistant District Attorney Sandra Staub said the victim in the case accepted the plea agreement and was aware of Tuesday’s hearing but was not attending.

Staub told Judge James Manitsas that Hernandez and the woman had resided at the same Northampton apartment complex and were partying together with others on May 9, 2021.

Later that night, according to the woman’s statement, she woke up with Hernandez on top of her, holding his hands over her mouth and nose. He subsequently placed his hands around her neck, leaving red marks, Staub said.

At the hospital several hours later, the woman’s blood alcohol content was found to be 0.259% — more than three times the limit for drivers — Staub said.

After Hernandez was indicted on charges of rape, strangulation and suffocation, Staub told the court, complications arose with the DNA testing, which suggested the woman had had sex with two men in recent days.

The second man, identified as Stephen Grant, was ordered to appear in court, but he has since disappeared, Staub said.

These problems led the commonwealth to accept the change of plea and a reduced sentence.

“The victim wants (Hernandez) prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but the risk of juror confusion at trial could be insurmountable,” Staub said.

Defense attorney Alfred Chamberland said the DNA swabs called the victim’s credibility into question, and said his client denied that any kind of sexual assault had occurred.

“I believe the plea agreement is a fair resolution,” Chamberland told the judge.

Hernandez, who told the judge he was from Brooklyn, New York, and last worked as a handyman, pleaded guilty to assault and battery, a misdemeanor, and the felony charge of suffocation was continued without a finding for one year.

Manitsas sentenced Hernandez, who has spent 275 days behind bars since his arrest and has worn an ankle bracelet since being released on $5,000 bail in February 2022, to probation and time served.

Staub said the most significant condition of that probation was that he stay away from and have no contact with the victim.

James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.