A man who caused a four-hour police standoff in a hospital parking lot after locking his handcuffed wife in the trunk of a car will spend at least 51/2 years in prison, a judge decided Tuesday.
Jamison Ross Ellis, 31, of Edmonds asked for less time, but Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry said the severity of the first- degree kidnapping crime deserved a longer prison sentence.
His ex-wife told the judge “how much this hurt me and how much I have gone through because of this.”
Everett police arrested Ellis on Jan. 12 after he held officers at bay for nearly four hours in a parking lot near the emergency room of Providence Everett Medical Center’s Colby Campus.
Officers used rubber bullets to end the standoff after Ellis repeatedly put a gun to his head and threatened to kill himself, according to court papers.
In the hours before the standoff, Ellis assaulted his estranged wife, handcuffed and gagged her, put her in the trunk and threatened to kill himself in front of her, court documents said.
The woman had moved out of the house earlier in January, but she returned when she thought her husband was out of town. Instead, she discovered him in an upstairs bathroom with a gun, documents said.
He handcuffed her arms behind her back, stuffed a shirt in her mouth and put duct tape over that, documents said.
He carried her to a car in the garage and drove around for a while before trying to have sex with her. He finally let her go, documents said.
Ellis’ sentence is a minimum term, and he could actually spend much more time behind bars.
He pleaded guilty to kidnapping “with a sexual motivation,” putting the actual term in the hands of a state review panel. The review panel will determine whether his release would put the community at risk.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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