Man faces up to 5 years for bar attack

A 28-year-old Carson City man who was found guilty Thursday of hitting another man in the face with a pint glass in March faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced July 2 for battery causing substantial bodily harm.

Nicholas Moen testified during the trial that he was leaving the Blue Bull bar on March 25 after an argument with Christopher Lash, 28, when Lash hit him in the head with the beer glass, severing an artery in his face, said a statement by District Attorney Neil Rombardo. According to Rombardo, Moen's injuries resulted in "permanent disfigurement and prolonged pain."

Authorities said that when deputies arrived at the bar about 2 a.m., they found "a significant amount of blood" and a shattered pint glass, though Lash had fled.

A detective testified that Lash admitted to hitting Moen, but at the trial, Lash contended that it was in self-defense.

Rombardo maintained that the location of Moen's wounds - on the left side of his face near the back of his jawline and ear - was inconsistent with self-defense. He instead called it a case of "words versus a beer glass."

"I thought the evidence, in my mind, was that it was clear it was not in self-defense," Rombardo said, adding that results are never predictable in a jury trial.