A MAN with a history of assaulting and resisting police narrowly avoided jail yesterday after pleading exceptional circumstances.Jason Carter, 30, of Mt Gambier, faced Ballarat Magistrates Court after he was charged following a brawl outside the Blue Bell Hotel in Howitt St, Wendouree on April 19 last year.The court heard Carter was already on a six-month suspended jail sentence, imposed a month earlier for dishonesty offences.Police prosecutor Senior Constable Pepe Brown said police were called to the hotel and had to force Carter into the back of a divisional van after he resisted arrest.After arriving at Ballarat Police Station officers had to subdue Carter with capsicum spray when he became violent again.Magistrate Kay Robertson said Carter had to prove exceptional circumstances to avoid being sent straight to jail.Defence barrister Neill Hutton admitted Carter had a long history of assault offences but regular beatings as a child and alcohol and drug abuse had caused him problems."Alcohol is the root of his problem, and when he starts he doesn't know when to stop," he said.Mr Hutton said Carter had since married, was now a father of a newborn baby, had discovered God and was working closely with the Salvation Army in Mt Gambier."His relationship has calmed him down," Mr Hutton said.Carter was also aiming to become a landscape gardener and had been offered work at a fruit shop run by the Salvation Army, Mr Hutton said.Ms Robertson said she was concerned about Carter's five prior occasions of resisting arrest and assaulting police, but was satisfied he was making attempts to address his issues.Carter was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond without conviction, ordered to complete 70 volunteer hours and told to pay $74.92 in costs after pleading guilty to two charges of resisting police and one of being drunk in a public place.