RIVERTON -- A police detective said the suspect charged in last week's hatchet attack on an off-duty Fremont County sheriff's deputy didn't approve of the white lawman's relationship with an American Indian woman.

George Dewey, 52, of Lander, is charged with attacking deputy Calvin Martin, of Riverton, on Sept. 1. The deputy was treated for gashes to his head, arm and back of the neck and released from a hospital later that day.

Circuit Judge Wesley A. Roberts heard evidence against Dewey on Wednesday and ruled that Dewey should answer felony charges in district court.

Dewey faces charges of first-degree attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery, felony interference with a peace officer, and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent.

When questioned by County Attorney Brian Varn at Wednesday's hearing, Detective Julie Etter of the Riverton Police Department said she believes Dewey attacked Martin because the deputy is in a relationship with a woman "who happens to be Native American."

Etter said investigators heard from others that Dewey was making racist comments before the early morning attack. Dewey himself is an American Indian.

"We know that ... the defendant had racist tendencies that Deputy Martin was in a mixed relationship with a Native American female," Varn said.

Etter also said police heard Dewey had talked about wanting to do something that would send him back to prison because he didn't feel he had a life on the outside.

Varn filed papers in court last week stating that Dewey has past convictions for aggravated robbery, grand theft and assault with a deadly weapon.

Riverton police have said Martin's assailant lured him out of his home by saying he needed the deputy's help to quiet down some neighbors. As Martin walked out the door, the man pulled out a hatchet and began striking the deputy.

Martin ran back inside to get a gun, police said, but his attacker was gone when he came back out. According to papers filed in court, Martin identified Dewey as his attacker from photographs and Dewey was arrested on the Wind River Indian Reservation the day of the attack.

In court papers, Etter wrote that Dewey said after his arrest that he had been in the area when the attack occurred and knew someone was hurt, but he didn't now if he was the one who had attacked Martin.

"He claimed that he remembered running away from the area, falling and seeing the weapon -- hatchet -- in his hand," Etter wrote. "He described to me in detail where he fled on foot, and where he subsequently buried the weapon."

Defense lawyer Kate McKay told Roberts that she did not dispute that the prosecution had established probable cause to move all the charges against Dewey into district court, except for the felony interference count. She challenged whether Martin was performing his official duties when he was attacked.