Yoshiaki Nagaya

The Japanese diplomat accused of abusing his wife with a string of assaults, including stabbing her in the hand with a small screwdriver and pushing her from a car, will be sentenced next month for two felony counts of domestic violence.

Yoshiaki Nagaya, 33, was scheduled Monday for a sentencing hearing at which he'll face up to a year in jail. However, his attorney asked for more time to translate from Japanese to English some mitigating documents and prosecutors did not object, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

The hearing was reset for March 18.

Nagaya was originally charged with more than a dozen counts of domestic violence for injuries his wife, Yuka, documented in photographs. He was on his way toward a Feb. 4 trial when in mid-December he abruptly pleaded no contest to the two charges