STEUBENVILLE — A husband and wife admitted Thursday to entering a downtown Steubenville residence in February and assaulting the homeowner and his wife.

Kenny Emerson Shepard, 39, and his wife Stacy Lynn Shepard, 24, both of 87674 Sinfield Road, Hopedale, pleaded guilty to amended indictments charging them each with aggravated assault, a lesser charge than the aggravated burglary they’d originally faced. The two also had been indicted on charges of complicity and assault, but in exchange for their guilty pleas prosecutors nullified those.

Because he has prior convictions, Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese sentenced Kenny Shepard to one year in prison with credit for the 268 days he’s already served. His attorney, Charles Amato, asked the judge to allow his client to finish out his sentence at the county jail, but Bruzzese told him “that’s not going to happen.”

“That’s fine, sir,” Kenny Shepard said. “I was only asking for a little bit of time because my sister-in-law passed away and I wanted to do a video funeral.”

Bruzzese told him it was out of his hands.

“I sentenced you to prison and it’s on their schedule,” he said. “I don’t control that.”

Stacey Shepard, who has no priors, will be on probation for two years. Along with that she’ll have to get a job, Bruzzese said.

“Right now, they are everywhere,” he told her.

Stacey Shepard said she “will try to get my job back,” but that won’t happen until she’s released from the Jefferson County jail, where she’s currently being held on another aggravated burglary indictment. Authorities allege that on Feb. 7, Stacey Shepard dragged a woman out of her home on Main Street by her hair and punched her, all in the presence of the alleged victim’s child.

A week later, police had reported the pair climbed through an unlocked window at a downtown residence because they wanted the homeowners to return money they’d given them. Police had alleged Kenny Shepard punched the homeowner and that Stacy Shepard punched the homeowner’s wife, then stole her cell phone and food stamp card.