A woman has been sentenced to serve three years in prison for biting off the ear of an off-duty Canadian police officer.

South Central District Judge Sonna Anderson sentenced Patricia Reiss to five years with two years suspended and three years of supervised probation on Class Cfelony counts of aggravated assault and preventing arrest.

The two sentences will be served at the same time. Reiss pleaded guilty Oct. 17 to the two charges.

According to a Bismarck police report from the Sept. 12 incident, Reiss bit off about half of a 37-year-old woman's ear when the woman and others tried to help her.

The 37-year-old woman, an off-duty officer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was walking with a group from one bar to another when they saw Reiss get out of a vehicle. Reiss was screaming that she had been assaulted and choked.

Members of the group who approached Reiss said she swung wildly at them. The off-duty officer attempted to calm Reiss, who then charged her and bit her ear. Police photos show about half the officer's right ear was torn off. The victim was taken to a Bismarck hospital, where surgeons were reportedly unable to reattach the ear.

Police said Reiss resisted being arrested for the assault.

Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Lloyd Suhr said the victim has to undergo invasive surgery that involves rebuilding her ear with cartilage from her rib cage.

"She has to deal with looking in the mirror every day and seeing this disfigurement," Suhr said, noting that the woman has endured professional and personal hardships since the incident.

Suhr said the assault was one of the most "senseless, violent" attacks he has seen as a prosecutor. He asked Anderson to sentence Reiss to serve at least three years in prison on each count, with sentences to run consecutively.

Suhr said Reiss's problems, which include post-traumatic stress disorder, should not mitigate her sentence.

"Let's not let this one be about the defendant," he said.

Steve Balaban, Reiss's appointed defense attorney, said he understood where Suhr was coming from, but said Reiss's problems should be taken into consideration. He said she has been in treatment and getting help for her problems since she was released from jail on bond. He said putting her in jail would not help her situation.

Balaban asked Anderson to give Reiss a suspended sentence with credit for time served. He said she has expressed remorse for her actions.

"She wouldn't wish that on anybody," he said of the victim's problems.

Reiss, crying, said she takes responsibility for her actions but believes prison will not help her.

"Putting me in prison is going to cut me off from the programs that are helping me," she said.

Anderson told Reiss the victim did nothing to deserve her injuries.

"You put people at risk when you can't control your behavior," the judge said.

Anderson ordered Reiss to pay $534.66 in restitution to the victim for loss of a diamond earring in the attack. She ordered Reiss taken into custody to begin serving her sentence immediately.

"This was a senseless crime," Anderson said. "There are no winners; there are only losers in this case."

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)