A Canyon Country man named in a 16-count felony complaint for allegedly having assaulted five people a year ago who pleaded no contest to three of the 16 charges was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Jameson Brooks Witty, 32, was convicted last month after pleading to one felony count each of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, criminal threats and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, Paul Eakins, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
“He was sentenced to 14 years, 4 months in state prison, but received 358 days credit for time served,” Eakins said.
Witty was arrested May 27, 2017, after deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley responded to a house on the 27000 block of Elk Ridge Road in Castaic, after a woman called to report her ex-boyfriend.
Friends who watched a woman be dragged off by her gun-wielding ex-boyfriend, rallied to her defense despite shots allegedly being fired, thwarting what local sheriff’s deputies said at the time was a kidnapping.
Despite the struggle and at least two shots fired from a semi-automatic handgun, no one was reported hurt in the incident.
Witty was arrested initially on suspicion of kidnapping.
Once prosecutors reviewed the case, however, they charged Witty instead with: one count of residential burglary with a person present and while armed with a handgun; five counts of assault with a semiautomatic handgun; five counts of criminal threats while armed with a handgun; two counts of negligent discharge of a firearm; one count of felony vandalism; one felony count of possession of an unregistered firearm and one misdemeanor count of domestic battery.
At the time of his arrest a year ago, Witty was on probation for a 2014 offense involving the theft of property taken from the fatal crash that claimed the life of Paul Walker, best known for his role in the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise.
In August 2014, Witty entered an open plea to the court of no contest to one misdemeanor count each of grand theft of personal property, destroying evidence and resisting, obstructing and delaying a peace officer, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, said in 2014.
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