A judge will decide whether an airman found not guilty of charges of maiming and assaulting his fiancée because of lack of mental responsibility should be released or sent to a mental health facility.

A hearing is scheduled Friday to determine what should happen to Airman 1st Class Michael W. Pretzer once he serves his sentence on a different charge, said Erin Zagursky, an Air Force spokeswoman at Ramstein Air Base.

A military judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Pretzer after his court-martial last year. He attacked his fiancée on their wedding day, biting off two-thirds of her right ear, biting her nose and pushing her down a flight of stairs in June.

Although he was found not guilty of the maiming and assault charge, the judge found him guilty of violating a no-contact order by sending an e-mail to the woman after the attack. The judge sentenced Pretzer to a reduction to the lowest pay grade, forfeiture of all pay and benefits, confinement for six months and a bad-conduct discharge.

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