An illegal immigrant in Tennessee received a suspended sentence and “unsupervised probation” for assaulting Knoxville police nearly two years ago, an altercation that landed him in the hospital with a broken face.

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee sentenced 32-year-old Ernesto D. Rodriguez to a roughly one year jail sentence on Thursday after a jury in March convicted the Mexican native of misdemeanor assault stemming from a fight with police in July 2014, WBIR reports.

McGee figured Rodriguez should serve 75 percent of his sentence and released him with credit for 66 days he’s already spent in jail. McGee suspended the rest of Rodriguez’ sentence, ordered him to pay court costs, and placed him on “unsupervised probation,” according to the news site.

Two Knoxville police responded to a domestic assault report on July 9, 2014 involving Rodriguez and his girlfriend in Northwest Knoxville in which Rodriguez allegedly slashed her car tires and threatened her life with a knife before fleeing the woman’s home on foot.

The officers contend Rodriguez was “defiant” when they caught up with him along the road and attempted to take him into custody. Police allege Rodriguez spit on and punched an officer. What happened next is in dispute, but Rodriguez ended up in the hospital with a facial fracture and his eyes swollen shut, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen initially declined to prosecute Rodriguez for the domestic dispute and assaulting the officers because authorities believed he would be deported but pressed forward when it didn’t happen.

“Records show immigration officials reviewed his case but opted not to initiate deportation proceedings,” the News Sentinel reports.

Last summer, Rodriguez filed a civil rights lawsuit against police over the beating, and shortly after Allen secured a grand jury indictment for resisting arrest and misdemeanor assault on both officers involved. In March, a jury acquitted Rodriguez of assaulting one officer, but convicted him of assault on the other, as well as resisting arrest.

“It is unlikely under current immigration policy Rodriguez’s misdemeanor convictions would prompt a move to try to deport him now,” according to the news site. “Rodriguez’s civil-rights lawsuit against the police department remains pending in U.S. District Court.”