Prison for man who punched, held woman captive in Modesto motel room

A judge on Thursday sentenced a 47-year-old man to 13 years and eight months in prison for punching his then-girlfriend and holding her captive in a Modesto motel room after she tried to leave to feed her children.

A jury in late August found Alvin Bernard Jones, of Modesto, guilty of battery on a cohabitant, making criminal threats, false imprisonment, vehicle theft and possessing methamphetamine.

The crimes occurred April 14, 2014, at the Vagabond Inn on McHenry Avenue in central Modesto.

The woman told police that her boyfriend, Jones, had held her in her motel room against her will for several hours, according to Deputy District Attorney Beth O’Hara De Jong, who prosecuted the case.

The girlfriend had asked for her car keys because she wanted to go to the Modesto Gospel Mission, where her children could get something to eat. Angered that she wanted to leave, Jones became violent. He punched the woman in the nose, threatened to kill her and tackled her when she tried to leave, De Jong has said.

The woman escaped from the motel room when Jones answered a knock at the door, and she ran to the motel manager’s office.

Jones left the area in the woman’s car. On April 22, 2014, California Highway Patrol Officer Phillip De Prater spotted Jones driving his girlfriend’s car. The officer later found that Jones had meth in his pocket.

On Thursday morning, attorneys for Jones argued that he should receive a reduced sentence because he and his sister witnessed domestic violence when they were children.

Roland Thé, who was assisting Jones’ court-appointed attorney, told the judge that the defendant, at the time of the crimes, was suffering from being subjected to violence at the hands of his father. Thé also argued that Jones’ long history of drug abuse also affected his judgment on the night of the attack on the woman.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Jones’ sister and niece testified that he was a kind man while sober but would become paranoid while high on drugs. The defendant’s sister also testified that her father would beat their mother and Jones when he was teenager.

The prosecutor argued that Jones has been in and out of prison on an “installment plan,” returning to prison for violating his parole. De Jong said Jones has had ample time and opportunities to stop the alleged cycle of domestic violence started by his father, but he didn’t.

She said the victim in this case was battered, and 13 years in prison is not enough to protect the public from Jones’ violence.

Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves denied a defense motion to ignore some of Jones’ previous convictions when sentencing the defendant. She also refused to give Jones a reduced sentence.

The judge told the attorneys there was no medical evidence that Jones was suffering from any emotional aftereffects of abuse by his father when he held the woman captive last year. She also said the physical abuse and the degree of cruelty on the woman should not result in a mitigated sentence.

Reeves said she would have added a few additional years to Jones’ prison time, but the court’s sentencing structure did not allow for it. She said Jones has had numerous past convictions, and he has shown a poor performance while out on parole.

The judge asked Jones whether he had any questions about his sentence. The defendant said he felt his sentence was unjust, shortly before the bailiff ushered him out of the courtroom.

This story was originally published June 20, 2015 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Prison for man who punched, held woman captive in Modesto motel room."