PROVIDENCE — Louis J. DiBacco, a bouncer for the Fish Company bar in the Old Harbor district, has admitted in Superior Court that he assaulted a patron outside the bar on Dec. 29, 2006. The police said that the patron suffered a fractured eye socket when he was punched.

In accepting a plea bargain, Judge Susan E. McGuirl ordered that his case be filed for one year, retroactive to March 10, 2008, the date that a District Court judge found him guilty of the same offense: misdemeanor simple assault.

DiBacco, 28, of Attleboro, had appealed the District Court outcome, which brought the prosecution to Superior Court.

The case was resolved Friday, one business day before jury selection was scheduled to begin. And the resolution came as the City of Providence, concerned about violence inside and outside bars, is adopting regulations for the licensing of bouncers

In explaining why the prosecution did not take the case to the jury trial that DiBacco had requested, Michael J. Healey, spokesman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, said, “We saw that the case had some evidentiary issues” that would have made it problematic to prove.

In the lower court, he pointed out, the prosecution only had to convince Judge William C. Clifton that DiBacco was guilty, not a jury.

DiBacco pleaded no contest before Judge McGuirl — the equivalent of guilty, under Rhode Island law — which Healey said constituted an admission of the alleged facts.

When a criminal charge is filed, by law, the disposition does not constitute a criminal conviction. With the filing being made retroactive, DiBacco may apply immediately to have the case expunged from the public record.

“Essentially, he’s already served his sentence,” Healey said.

In District Court, Clifton sentenced DiBacco to one year’s probation and to pay court costs and restitution to the victim for out-of-pocket medical expenses. That disposition, too, did not constitute a criminal conviction. But DiBacco apparently would have had to wait longer to obtain expungement if that disposition stood.

The maximum statutory punishment for simple assault is one year’s imprisonment.

DiBacco admitted that he assaulted Jadon Neves, now 24, of Warren, with his fist. According to a police report, DiBacco concluded that Neves was making trouble inside the Fish Company, at 515 S. Water St., and he locked Neves’ arm behind Neves and forcefully walked him outside, where the assault occurred.

The 2006 assault was at least the second incident at the Fish Company involving DiBacco that wound up in court, according to public records. He and a codefendant, another bouncer, were acquitted of similar charges in a District Court trial.

The other incident occurred May 25, 2008, when the police accused DiBacco and bouncer Sean Sutton, then 24, of Westport, of assaulting a sister and brother, Nicole Lyons, then 21, of North Providence, and John A. DiSumma, then 28, of Johnston.

Lyons and DiSumma identified the bouncers as their assailants from photos kept on file at the police station for the registration of bouncers, according to a police report. The city previously required that bouncers be registered and to wear photo IDs at work, but now the law has been tightened to require the screening, training and licensing of bouncers. Licensing will allow the city to disqualify anyone who officials deem unfit to be a bouncer.

DiBacco was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of simple assault and Sutton, two counts of simple assault and two counts regarding the illegal discharge of pepper spray.

gsmith@projo.com