A Newton man who admitted to using ethnic slurs against a psychiatrist before headbutting him last year has been sentenced to probation.
A 22-year-old man is facing charges after he allegedly headbutted a psychiatrist Monday. NEWTON -- A town man who admitted to using ethnic slurs against a psychiatrist before headbutting him last year has been sentenced to probation.
Robert Hontz, 23, of Newton, was sentenced on Oct. 30 to two years probation with credit for 232 days served in Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility, according to a news release from the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office.
Hontz, who pleaded guilty to fourth-degree bias intimidation on Aug. 17, must have no contact with the physician he assaulted on Dec. 29, authorities said. He must also take all of his medications, obtain a mental health evaluation, follow all court recommendations and pay all court penalties.
Sureshbabu Kurra was acting in his capacity as a physician at Newton Medical Center and wearing his identification card when Hontz came up to him and started calling him ethnic and racial slurs, police previously said. Hontz then threatened to "headbutt" the physician and had to be separated from Kurra, police said.
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Shortly thereafter, another physician went to check on Hontz, who said he wanted to apologize to Kurra, police said. Kurra then approached Hontz to accept his apology when Hontz suddenly headbutted the physician, police said.
When officers arrived, Kurra had a visible lump on the left side of his head and complained of pain, police said.
Hontz was arrested at that time and charged with third-degree aggravated assault and second-degree bias intimidation, police said.
A woman who identified herself as Hontz's sister, Kimberly Hontz, on the Newton Police's Facebook page previously said her brother "wasn't in the right state of mind" at the time of the incident.
"Yes, he deserves to pay for his crime, just like any one else," she said after her brother's arrest. "But he wasn't in the right state of mind, mental illnesses are (a) very serious thing. This is someone's family we're talking about, some people need to learn respect."
Newton police Lt. Robert Osborn previously told NJ Advance Media Hontz's mental status may have an impact on mitigating charges against him.
"That still doesn't give him a right to assault someone," Osborn said. "We responded to the incident and took action based on the circumstances."
Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
