A Quilcene man arrested in May for first-degree kidnapping his girlfriend and assaulting her was given a new attorney during a short hearing Friday in Jefferson County Superior Court.

Joseph Gregory Gaikowski, 38, was charged with five felony counts — including first degree assault with a deadly weapon or firearm, second-degree assault-strangulation, and second-degree assault-reckless infliction of substantial bodily harm — in May. The charges also include sentencing enhancements for domestic violence.

Prosecutors allege Gaikowski assaulted his on-and-off-again girlfriend after they got into an argument at the home of the girlfriend’s mother after they went to her trailer to help with housework.

After they had left and gone to Gaikowski’s home, the girlfriend asked for a ride to go home but Gaikowski wouldn’t give her a ride and kept screaming at her. She then said Gaikowski started to hit her in the face and kick her over the course of several hours. At one point, he used his knee to ram her in the back and sent her head first into a granite countertop, which left a 2-inch gash above her right eyebrow, according to court documents.

The victim said she could feel blood coming down her face and told officers she asked Gaikowski, “Are you satisfied now? Is this enough?” and said Gaikowski didn’t care.

When she left his home and started walking down the driveway, Gaikowski followed her and pleaded with her not to leave, according to court documents. He apologized, but when they returned to the house, they began to argue again and he started kicking her.

She also said when she attempted to get away, he tried to driver over her with his car. She said he grabbed her by her sweatshirt and continued to hold her as he drove down the driveway,  veering in her direction and trying to hit her.

After the woman repeatedly screamed “Let me go!”, Gaikowski allegedly stopped the car, got out, and began choking her while telling her that he loved her, according to court documents.

Gaikowski then allegedly pulled her back into the car. She also said she escaped several times and hid in the woods but Gaikowski found her every time.

The woman eventually escaped and went to a neighbor’s house, and at the neighbor’s urging, went to the hospital, where she received seven stitches to close the wound above her eye, according to court papers.

Gaikowski later told deputies he had acted in self-defense, and said the argument had started because his girlfriend had jealousy issues and was made at him for talking to a neighbor woman. He repeatedly denied assaulting his girlfriend or threatening to kill her.

A trial on the felony charges had previously been set for July 24.

At his pretrial hearing Friday, Gaikowski asked Superior Court Judge Brandon Mack to appoint a new attorney.

Gaikowski said his current attorney, Julie St. Marie, had broken promises she had made and had failed to come through for him.

“I have no faith in her at all,” he told the judge.

Mack told the defendant that while he had the right to an attorney, he did not have the right to choose his own court-appointed lawyer.

The court, Mack added, needed to find that his relationship with his attorney and broken down to the point it was unworkable.

The judge also noted that appointing a new lawyer would set back the date of the trial.

Gaikowski said the stakes of the trial were high.

“It’s my life,” Gaikowski said. “It’s not working with me and her.”

St. Marie said it was clear there had been a breakdown in the relationship, and Mack granted the defendant’s request for a new lawyer.

His trial date was changed to Sept. 11.

Gaikowski remains in Jefferson County Jail on $75,000 bond.

Gaikowski has an extensive criminal history and was arrested earlier this year after a police chase that involved another defendant and a stolen truck towing a stolen trailer.

The other defendant in that case, Trenton Louis Seykora, was accused of crashing into three deputy patrol cars while trying to escape from deputies down a logging road north of Quilcene in late January.

Seykora was charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, first-degree possession of stolen property, attempting to elude a police vehicle, and driving under the influence, as well as two additional charges of second-degree malicious mischief.

Authorities claim Gaikowski was a passenger in the pickup and was behind the wheel during part of the police chase, and the pair had been on a crime spree in the days before the police chase. Gaikowski was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and third-degree driving with a suspended license.

Prosecutors noted at the time that he had 56 arrest warrants in his criminal history, with two active ones out of Kitsap County and Centralia.