Another young man has been convicted over his role in an all-in brawl on Dean Street that indirectly led to a policeman suffering a serious head injury.
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As with others who have fronted Albury Local Court for sentence in the past few weeks, Dylan Hartin's actions were not linked to the officer's alleged assault.
But his role in the fight involving two groups of men outside the old Albury courthouse was still condemned by magistrate Richard Funston.
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Mr Funston told the Lavington man on Monday the residents of Albury "don't want people spilling out of bars and getting into fights on the street".
He said the affray charge, to which the now 24-year-old fly-in, fly-out mining worker, at Cobar, pleaded guilty, was "a serious matter".
Hartin, police told the court, threw several punches during the melee, including one inflicted on a man who was crouching over and assaulting one of Hartin's friends, who was on his back on the footpath.
Defence lawyer Graham Lamond asked the court to spare Hartin from a conviction.
Mr Lamond told Mr Funston he did not wish to downplay Hartin's "behaviour" during the brawl, but said a conviction could have a "long-lasting" impact on his client's career.
Like many young men, he said, Hartin - who had to return home from Canada after losing his job when the COVID-19 pandemic struck - wanted to travel overseas, which could be hampered by such a sentence.
Prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Pike spoke against the submission, saying this was the same argument from the other young men sentenced over the brawl, which occurred on October 2 about 8.30pm.
Sergeant Pike said that just like those who went before Hartin, the most appropriate sentence - in the interest of parity - was a community corrections order, with conviction.
Mr Funston agreed and handed Hartin a 12-month order with conviction.
He said that was the point of an affray, that "you're all there"
"(A conviction) doesn't mean you can't go on and have a brighter future."
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