A Seaside man involved in a hammer attack against another man was sentenced Friday in Clatsop County Circuit Court to more than five years in prison.

Joshua Lee Fitch, 23, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of second-degree assault.

He was originally charged with attempted murder, robbery, criminal conspiracy and theft. The charges were dropped through a plea agreement.

In February, Seaside Police responded to Providence Seaside Hospital after receiving a report of a man who had suffered a serious head injury.

The man reported being assaulted with hammers by two other men, later identified as Fitch and Kevin Michael Burnham.

Fitch and Burnham were arrested a week later in Seaside after a police investigation.

Prosecutor Dave Goldthorpe said the two men tried to rob or steal from the victim in what appeared to be a drug deal situation. The two went after the victim and fractured his skull, which required expensive medical treatments to save his life.

“It’s due to the extreme measures taken by medical staff that (Fitch) was not facing a murder conviction on this,” Goldthorpe said.

In court Friday, Fitch’s defense lawyer James Lee von Boeckmann said further investigation showed the two men did go after the victim, but it was Burnham who had the hammer and began wailing on the victim. Burnham stopped hitting the man only because Fitch intervened.

“I saved his life. I really did. I didn’t take the steps to call police to go get him, but I do believe I saved his life,” Fitch said. “I told the truth and gave evidence and it doesn’t matter. I’m still getting five years.”

Fitch said he had never met Burnham until the day of the attack.

“He was just in my car and he asked me to give him a ride somewhere and that’s how it started,” Fitch said.

Judge Cindee Matyas explained to Fitch how he should not have been in that situation. She ordered him to have no contact with Burnham or the victim, as part of the 70-month sentence.

“Consequences are huge,” she said.

Fitch also pleaded no contest Friday to possession of methamphetamine from an earlier case.

Last month, Burnham, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery from the hammer attack. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted escape from Clatsop County Jail and to possession of methamphetamine from a previous case.

A sentencing hearing for Burnham is scheduled Sept. 25 in Clatsop County Circuit Court.