SPOKANE, Wash. — A Spokane man will spend 16 months in prison after a jury convicted him of restraining his girlfriend in a car and firing a gun near her head during a domestic violence incident.
Jaquin E. Cox, 29, was sentenced Dec. 15 in Spokane Superior Court after a jury found him guilty in November of unlawful imprisonment with domestic violence, aiming or discharging firearms with domestic violence, tampering with a witness and violating a court order, according to court records.
The charges stem from a November 2024 incident when Cox and his girlfriend left a party together, court documents show. During an argument while Cox was driving, the victim tried to exit the car multiple times at stop lights, but Cox grabbed her around the neck to prevent her from leaving, according to trial testimony.
Cox stopped at a parking garage on North Washington Street, where he pulled the woman by her hair, restrained her and fired a gun near her head, court records show. The victim managed to exit and tried to run, but Cox grabbed her from behind, according to testimony.
Spokane Police officers nearby heard the gunshot and witnessed Cox grabbing the screaming woman, according to court documents. They took him into custody.
The tampering conviction resulted from documented conversations in which Cox’s family instructed the victim to recant her statement, according to court records.
Judge Julie McKay imposed the high end of the sentencing range, saying she wished she could give Cox a longer sentence but was constrained by Washington state’s sentencing guidelines, according to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office.
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