The 18-year-old Auburn man who last week confessed to beating a 26-year-old African-American man unconscious with a baseball bat and shouting racist remarks at him during an attack in January has avoided federal hate crime charges.

Julian Tuimauga admits he used, “racially-charged words and threats toward Dashawn Horne in the course of causing him physical injury” in a plea deal announced Aug. 20 in a King County courtroom at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Tuimauga pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, which entails a minimum prison sentence of five years. He also pleaded guilty to malicious harassment and accepted a deadly weapon enhancement, which adds a mandatory two additional years to his eventual prison sentence.

Prosecutors reached the plea bargain with the intent to protect Horne from going through two trials in state and federal courts. The plea deal sets the recommended sentence range for Tuimauga somewhere between 136 and 160 months in prison, with three years of probation after his release.

Prosecutors will seek the maximum recommendation of 160 months when Tuimauga is sentenced on Sept. 21.

LaDonna Horne said she was satisfied with the plea deal. She said her son is making a full recovery.

According to an Auburn Police report and charging papers, Tuimauga attacked Horne in a rage with a baseball bat after he learned his sister had spent the night with Horne at her Auburn residence.