The man who was convicted of stabbing a girlfriend has filed a motion for a retrial.

In late July, a jury found Anthony Carty, 28, guilty of assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon for allegedly stabbing a girlfriend on May 5 in Freeland.

The defendant filed a motion for a new trial, said Island County Deputy Prosecutor Patrick McKenna, who represented the prosecution during the first trial. It will be heard on Aug. 11.

“It doesn’t happen every time, but it is not completely uncommon, either,”

McKenna said.

This is the latest twist in a case that has had many.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the defendant fired his lawyer before the trial and planned to represent himself. He then changed his mind the day before trial, and his former attorney, with whom he claimed he had a conflict, was reappointed.

During the trial he was so unruly in court that he was ordered to be shackled throughout the trial, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, Carty’s mother, Carolyn Carty, has claimed that her son’s trial has been unfair and the investigation by the Island County Sheriff’s office has been flawed.

“The jury took less than one hour to deliberate this case. Obviously it interfered with their dinner hour,” Carty said.

The reason for the motion is that Carty did not get a fair trial because his witnesses were not called to testify and his speedy trial rights were violated, she said.

The prosecutor sees it differently.

“We will, of course, be opposing the motion,” said Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks. “Judge (Vickie) Churchill presided over an eminently fair trial under difficult and challenging circumstances.”

“The difficulties were a direct result of the defendant’s behavior,” Banks said.

The charges stemmed from a domestic violence arrest. According to court records, Carty and his girlfriend spent the night at her home on Bush Point Road. When she woke up in the early morning, she found Carty pacing in the bedroom, accusing her of cheating on him.

Carty was also holding a kitchen steak knife, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The victim told police that Carty threatened to kill her.

A struggle ensued, and Carty stabbed her in the leg two times, according to court records.

Evan Tingstad, the Island County Sheriff’s deputy who met the victim at the South Whidbey office of the Citizens Against Domestic Abuse, wrote in his report that he saw a 3/8-inch stab wound on her inner thigh and a ½-inch stab wound on her outer thigh. He also noticed swelling and bruising to her left eye.

The evidence was sufficient for the Island County Prosecutor’s Office to charge Carty on May 19 with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and harassment/threats to kill.

A sentencing date has not been set.