Former Stonington resident Bryan J. Marshall pleaded guilty Wednesday in New London Superior Court to cutting his wife's throat during a domestic dispute in 2013 and setting fire to their home in Mystic.

Marshall, 53, now of Chicopee, Mass., has been paralyzed since he jumped out a second-floor window of the couple's home at 10 Meadowbrook Lane during the incident. He has been attending court appearances in a wheelchair.

He will be sentenced June 7 to up to a year in prison.

His estranged wife, Adrienne Amero-Marshall, has been attending Marshall's court appearances and was in the front row during Wednesday's plea hearing before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein.

"Her preference would be for a more substantial period of incarceration," said prosecutor Lawrence J. Tytla. "But she also does have an interest in resolving this so she could get on with her life."

According to court records, the couple's divorce is pending in family court in Norwich. A trial is scheduled for later this month. Amero-Marshall also is suing Marshall in civil court for assault and battery.

The plea agreement Marshall accepted Wednesday gives his attorney, William F. Dow III, the right to argue for a reduced or fully suspended prison term. The judge, noting she already watched a video that Dow submitted depicting Marshall's daily life with his disability, told Marshall it is unlikely he would be spared prison time.

According to court documents and testimony, Stonington police received two 911 calls from the Marshall home at 10:42 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2013. The husband told the police, "My wife is off her medications." The wife said, "My husband just tried to choke me." Moments later, a neighbor called to say that Marshall had just stabbed his wife outside of their home.

The first officer to arrive found the neighbor standing over Amero-Marshall, who was sitting on the grass bleeding from a neck wound. She said that her husband cut her with scissors after telling her, "We're going to hell together."

Hearing a "bang" and a "crash," officers noticed the second story of the garage was on fire and yelled for Marshall to come out. Marshall kicked or pushed the window out, stuck his head and upper torso out the window, pointed his head down, let go of the window sill and fell out, making no effort to reduce injury to himself during the fall, police said.

Amero-Marshall told police the dispute started when they were driving home from an artists' cooperative in Westerly and she told her husband she felt "unappreciated." The comment angered her husband, who exited the car when they arrived at home, called one of his wife's cats over and threw it through the air. She said Marshall began choking her, and she broke free and went into the bedroom to call 911. She said he took the telephone from her and began striking her with it. She said she fled the home but her husband caught up with her and assaulted her.

Marshall has been free on a $100,000 bond while his case was pending.

k.florin@theday.com