An apologetic Whitefish man was given a 10-year commitment with five years suspended to the Department of Corrections for threatening to cut a woman in a June 23, 2015, incident.

The sentence comes with a recommendation that Angel William Perez, 22, be placed in a boot camp program.

Perez pleaded guilty to one felony count of assault with a weapon in December 2015 as part of a plea agreement in which another assault-with-a-weapon charge was dropped.

The dropped charged resulted after Perez was accused of stabbing someone outside a Whitefish bar on Jan. 7.

In the case in which Perez pleaded guilty, he admitted threatening to kill a woman as he held a razor blade to her. Perez had cut himself in an apparent suicide attempt and the woman tried to help him when he assaulted her.

“I apologize for who I am,” Perez said after he set aside prepared remarks and told the judge he wanted to speak from his heart. “I’ve come to the realization that I’m an alcoholic and I need help ... I don’t ever want to come back here again.”

Flathead District Court Judge Amy Eddy commended Perez for apologizing in court.

“It takes a level of courage to do that,” Eddy said.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].