LAS VEGAS — The husband of a suspended Nevada state judge took a plea deal Friday and agreed to serve three to 10 years in state prison for attacking and seriously injuring her with a frying pan.

Edward Halverson, 49, entered an Alford plea _ the equivalent of a no-contest plea _ to a single felony, battery domestic violence with use of a weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm.

He acknowledged the state could prove his guilt but told Clark County District Court Judge David Barker he couldn't remember hitting his wife, Elizabeth Halverson, late Sept. 4.

"Your honor, I don't have any recollection of the events of that night until I was helping her," said Edward Halverson.

"To get up here and say, 'I did it,' I couldn't tell you," he said.

Elizabeth Halverson, 50, was hospitalized for more than two weeks after she was struck multiple times with a skillet. Authorities said she received more than 100 staples and stitches to close deep head wounds.

In a 911 recording made during the attack, Elizabeth Halverson whispered to a police dispatcher that her husband was trying to kill her with a frying pan. She then left the phone line open while she talked to her husband, recording a legacy that would survive if she did not.

"Why did you kill me?" she asked. "Well, you murdered me. Why did you do that?"

Elizabeth Halverson's attorney, Peter James, and prosecutor Susan Benedict declined to comment outside the courtroom Friday.

Elizabeth Halverson was suspended from her job as Clark County district court judge in July 2007 after she was accused of mishandling trials, mistreating staff, falling asleep on the bench and having her husband sworn in to ask if he'd completed his household chores. She has denied wrongdoing, blaming the accusations on vindictive colleagues and disgruntled employees.

Elizabeth Halverson lost an August primary bid for re-election and is awaiting a decision from the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, which could permanently bar her from the bench.