A 23-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in jail for stabbing a relative during a birthday party.

Jose Guadalupe Robles Jr. pleaded guilty in Benton County Superior Court to second-degree assault.

He had no felony convictions before the stabbing, according to court documents.

The Kennewick man went to Adrian Mountainchief's Kent Street apartment on Oct. 15 for Mountainchief's birthday celebration.

The two men got into an argument and at some point Robles assaulted Mountainchief and stabbed him twice with a kitchen knife, court documents said.

One stab punctured Mountainchief's lung. He fell to the ground, and Robles kicked him in the face, documents said.

Mountainchief also suffered a broken nose in the beating. He went to Kennewick General Hospital for treatment, and that is when medical officials called police.

Robles was arrested Oct. 19 in Spokane and returned to Kennewick.

"I was extremely drunk at the time and incorrectly believed I was defending myself in an appropriate manner," Robles wrote in his plea statement.

The 4-inch knife he used in the stabbing was forfeited to Kennewick police as a part of his plea.

Robles also will have to pay restitution to the Crime Victims Compensation program in Olympia for Mountainchief's medical costs. The amount has not yet been determined.

Man gets prison sentence in vending machine vandalism

A career criminal is going to prison for nearly two years for damaging vending machines at 11 Benton County hotels and stealing the cash and coins.

Donald Edward Ladd Jr., 46, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft and second-degree malicious mischief. A third charge for second-degree burglary was dismissed.

According to court documents, Ladd and his co-defendant, Craig Steven Ellingson, were captured on security video in June 2010 entering the vending machine room at the Super 8 Motel on Columbia Center Boulevard in Kennewick.

The room has a sign posted saying the machines are for guests only, and Ladd and Ellingson were not registered guests, documents said.

The men broke into the vending machines, causing damage to them. Then they collected what was inside, removing the money.

Prosecutors said the duo did this at 11 hotels throughout the county. The money taken totaled $2,120, while damage to the machines came out to $2,382, court documents said.

Ladd owes restitution of $4,023 to Central Vending Co. and $8,631 to Coca Cola, both in Pasco.

Kennewick police investigating the Super 8 incident ultimately matched the methods used to similar thefts in the area and west to Yakima.

Ladd and Ellingson also were spotted making cash transactions at Kennewick businesses using $1 bills they pulled from a large wad of money.

They were arrested in July 2010 in Fife. Ladd was identified as a suspect in the thefts, and Ellingson matched the description of the second thief.

Ellingson pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in October 2010. He was ordered to serve two years and nine months in prison, which he is doing at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, court and corrections records show.

Ladd was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison.

Ladd's criminal history dates to 1984, with convictions in Pierce, King, Lincoln, Thurston and Chelan counties, as well as in Las Vegas.

His crimes include burglary, theft, malicious mischief, drug possession, attempted burglary, possession of stolen property, forgery and taking a vehicle.