BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A southeastern Nebraska man charged with sexually assaulting a 6-year-old child has pleaded guilty in an effort to avoid conviction of more serious charges.

40-year-old Jason R. Schriner, of Beatrice, submitted two Alford guilty pleas Wednesday to reduce his charges to third-degree sexual assault of a child. He was initially charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, a felony punishable by up to life imprisonment.

In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him at trial.

Court documents show the young girl says was assaulted by Schriner several times. An attorney for Schriner did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 18.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has told police she was forced to sign a “slave contract” that obligated her to endure her boyfriend’s sexual and physical abuse.

On Tuesday authorities charged 35-year-old Nicholas Talbot with domestic abuse. Online court records don’t list an attorney for the Lincoln man. Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry says Talbot was convicted in 1999 of sexually assaulting a minor.

A Lincoln police officer says in a court affidavit that Talbot forced the 32-year-old woman to sign what Talbot had titled “Slave Contract,” saying her only rights were what “the master gave her.” The affidavit says the woman told her pastor and another woman about Talbot’s abuse and showed them several wounds.

She says Talbot used a marker to write “PROPERTY OF NICK” on her left arm

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A passenger who tried to open an airplane door and caused it to divert to Omaha has pleaded guilty for his interaction with a flight attendant.

24-year-old Joshua Suggs, of Chicago, pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting, intimidating or interfering with a flight crew member. Suggs was arrested in April after trying to open a door of a plane bound for Sacramento, California. After the incident, the pilot opted to land in Omaha.

James Martin Davis, Suggs’ defense attorney, says his client experienced a psychotic episode during the flight.

A sentencing hearing for Suggs has been set for April.

FALLS CITY, Neb. (AP) — An ex-sheriff’s deputy in Nebraska has been sentenced to three years of probation after accidentally shooting himself and then trying to make it look like he’d been the victim of a crime.

Twenty-six-year-old Joshua Nincehelser was sentenced Tuesday. He pleaded no contest in November to felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor false reporting.

Nincehelser told authorities in June that he was shot by a driver he had pulled over near Humboldt, but authorities determined he lied. Nincehelser eventually admitted to investigators that he accidentally shot himself, and then shot at his cruiser to make his story look real.

He was later fired from the Richardson County Sheriff’s Department.