A 40-year-old Minot woman was charged last week after she allegedly punched her boyfriend, bit his hand and hit him with a metal clothes rack during an argument over a pack of cigarettes last Thursday.

Jeanie Lee Brault is charged with aggravated assault, a Class C felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Brault called police to report that she had been involved in a domestic violence incident, but she was the one who ended up getting arrested.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Brault’s boyfriend said she was angry with him after he threw away a package containing broken cigarettes. He threw them away because he had bought her cigarettes earlier. Brault then punched her boyfriend in the face. He pushed her away and she fell into a metal clothing rack. Brault then took the end of the metal rack and used it to hit her boyfriend on the head and on the back.

Brault’s son told police that he saw his mother punch her boyfriend multiple times and also saw her bite him.

Police observed two red bumps on the back of the boyfriend’s head, a red mark on his face and scratches on his back and shoulders. Brault had bruises on her arms.

Court records show that a Jeanie Lee Brault,  born in 1976, pleaded guilty in February 2014 to two counts of Class B felony unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and one Class C felony child neglect or abuse charge and was ordered to serve six months home confinement and three years of supervised probation. She received 18 months for each charge, all to be served concurrently. A year of the 18 month jail sentence was suspended.

A preliminary hearing on the aggravated assault charge has been scheduled for Jan. 5, 2017 before Judge Gary Lee.

– Andrea Johnson