WENATCHEE — The Seattle police detective charged with domestic violence after a Leavenworth Oktoberfest scuffle will avoid prosecution if he carries out a program of alcoholism treatment and probation.

Ronald Lee Murray, 55, admitted to a history of alcoholism Thursday in Chelan County District Court, telling Judge Nancy Harmon he would undergo two years of treatment followed by three years of court supervision.

State law allows such deferred prosecution in some cases involving alcoholism, drug dependency or mental illness. Eligible defendants must meet court-ordered conditions to qualify for dismissal of charges.

Harmon said the conditions seldom arise in domestic-violence cases, but Murray's case merited deferral.

"I don't know the last time, if ever, we've done a deferred prosecution on a domestic-violence case," Harmon said. "... It isn't something we very often see, but it's stemming from his abuse of alcohol."

Murray, at the time a detective sergeant with the Seattle Police Domestic Violence Unit, was arrested Oct. 15 after Chelan County sheriff's deputies saw him dragging his girlfriend by her hair and coat across a gravel parking lot near the Oktoberfest venue. He was charged with fourth-degree assault.

Deputies said the woman, Murray's 44-year-old live-in girlfriend, pleaded with them to release Murray.

"She was supportive of the defendant, not particularly helpful to the prosecution," Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen told Harmon.