Port Hueneme Police Sgt. Chad Nichols pleaded guilty to spousal abuse Monday in Ventura County Superior Court.

Nichols faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced in April.

Nichols, 31, pleaded guilty to corporal injury to a spouse before Judge Kevin McGee, while his wife, Jaimene Nichols, sat in the courtroom, wept and was comforted by a relative.

As part of the terms of the plea bargain agreement, Chad Nichols can no longer own or possess a firearm.

Nichols, with his head shaved and wearing a beige jacket and a red tie, stuffed his hands into his pockets and calmly answered questions from prosecutor Melissa Suttner and the judge.

Suttner, a District Attorney's Office investigator and an Oxnard Police Department detective, waited about two hours while Nichols decided whether to seek a trial or enter a guilty plea.

"We've been considering it for a number of weeks," said Nichols' lawyer, Louis "Chuck" Samonsky. "This is an extremely devastating event for the family. It's tearing the family apart, and also it's extremely devastating financially. We just thought, given all of the circumstances, this was the appropriate thing to do."

McGee ruled that Nichols understood what he was doing by entering a guilty plea to corporal injury to his spouse. Nichols agreed to waive his constitutional rights, including the right to a trial, before pleading guilty.

Initially, Samonsky said he didn't know whether Chad Nichols would have to resign from the Port Hueneme Police Department but later said it is unlikely that he will keep his job.

"I am not sure exactly how that will work. That is a civil matter and not connected to the criminal," he said. "There is little doubt that his job would terminate."

Port Hueneme Police Chief Fernie Estrella couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

Suttner said she would comment about the case after Chad Nichols is sentenced in April.

Nichols had been charged with domestic violence along with two counts of dissuading victims — the couple's two girls, ages 9 and 12 — from reporting the crime, according to Suttner.

During testimony at a preliminary hearing July 10, Jaimene Nichols denied that she was beaten by her husband. The injury on the top of her head was a "scratch" after she accidentally hit it on a dresser drawer while reaching to get underwear, she testified.

Prosecutors said Chad Nichols struck his wife in the head with a cell phone. The couple lived in Oxnard when the incident occurred.