By Maxine Bernstein
The Oregonian
SEASIDE, Ore. — The morning after Seaside Police Sgt. Jason Goodding was shot and killed, officers responded to an unrelated noise disturbance at a Seaside apartment on Feb. 6, 2016.
While officers spoke to Jamie Lee Jones on the porch of the apartment, they noticed a single live round of ammunition on the ground. Jones said he didn’t know anything about the bullet, and the officers seized it.
A closer examination of that “A USA 380 AUTO’’ round, with its unusual head stamp, revealed it was identical to a bullet that killed Goodding the night before.
Jones was arrested five days later, accused of having previously possessed the handgun used to kill the Seaside police sergeant, a .380-caliber Davis P380 pistol.
He also faced other firearms and drug charges. Authorities believe the gunman who killed the Seaside sergeant, Philip Ferry, 55, had swiped the .380-caliber pistol from Jones while Jones was passed out from a drug binge, according to court records.
On Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon sentenced Jones, 45, to 12 years in federal prison after he had pleaded guilty to possession of another firearm in furtherance of drug-trafficking and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
“I appreciate that you are not the one who caused the death of a heroic sworn officer,’' Simon told Jones. “But your possession of the firearm...did lead to the death of Sgt. Goodding.’'
Looking on from the front two rows of the courtroom gallery were Seaside Police Chief David Ham, and other ranking law enforcement from Seaside, Astoria and Cannon Beach police departments, the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant federal public defender Gerald Needham, who represented Jones, had urged a lesser sentence, describing what he called the “horrific circumstances’’ of Jones’ childhood and a criminal history largely involving “stolen cars and things of this ilk.’' Jones’ two paternal grandparents had committed suicide, and his mother had attempted suicide during his childhood. He ended up living with his maternal grandfather, and has spent most of his life in and out of prison, mostly in Nevada. Jones also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, his lawyer said.
Needham argued that if it were not for the death of the Seaside police sergeant, the amount of methamphetamine seized from Jones - about 20 grams - likely wouldn’t have warranted such a stiff sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad countered that it was the combination of Jones’ drug trafficking with his possession of firearms and violent threats to drug customers and witnesses that supported the 12-year prison term.
When Jones awoke either late Feb. 5 or early Feb. 6, 2016, he realized someone had stolen one of his firearms and methamphetamine. Angered, he punched one of his drug customers in the throat, fired another revolver within 15 inches of a woman’s face and threatened that everyone present better get his stuff back and keep their mouths shut, Bolstad wrote in a sentencing memo.
After police visited him on the morning of Feb. 6, 2016 at his apartment on the noise complaint, Jones returned to that Nordmark Drive flop house, and ordered others to not say anything to the police about his possession of a .380-caliber firearm, about his firing of any guns, or “they would wish they had never been born,’' Bolstad said.
If it were not for Jones’ trafficking in guns and drugs, the Seaside sergeant’s killing “possibly would not have happened in the first place,’' Bolstad told the court Monday.
“It’s not everyday we see the death, the murder of a sworn law enforcement officer,’' she added.
Bolstad also noted in court papers that Jones had links to the “Outlaw Nazi street gang,’' and is well-known in the Seaside community as someone with drugs “and as someone to fear.’'
Jones, dressed in gray-striped jail scrubs, stood briefly and addressed the judge after writing a six-page letter to Simon.
“I am so sorry to the Goodding family and Mr. Goodding,’' he said.
He said never “in my wildest imagination’’ would he have thought his actions would have led to the death of a police officer.
“It’s a nightmare that haunts me everyday,’' Jones said. “My heart goes out to the Goodding family.’'
The judge sentenced Jones to seven years for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, to run consecutive to five years for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Simon urged Jones to work to assist younger offenders in prison. “You can help steer them in the right direction,’' the judge suggested, to help pay his debt to society for the “horrific consequences that occurred in this crime.’'
The gun possession charge that Jones pleaded guilty to was not for the .380-caliber pistol used in the sergeant’s shooting, according to court records. Jones also had been indicted on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the .380-caliber pistol, but that charge, as well as tampering with witness charges, were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Days before Goodding’s death, Jones traded heroin for a .357-caliber revolver from an unidentified drug customer on Feb. 3, 2016. A search of Jones’ cell phone revealed a text message from the seller, who wrote, “I’ll be by at five-thirty with the pistol. Erase this text.’'
Ferry fatally shot Goodding as the sergeant and another officer, David Davidson, tried to arrest him on a probation violation warrant in downtown Seaside. Davidson used a Taser on Ferry after Ferry refused to take his hands out of his pockets. As Goodding tried to restrain Ferry on the ground, Ferry pulled out Jones’ pistol and fired once. The bullet went under the ballistic vest Goodding was wearing. Davidson then fired several times, hitting Ferry three times -- in the hand, arm and buttocks. Goodding, 39, and Ferry, 55, died later at separate hospitals.
“We’re pleased he’s being held accountable for his role in the crime,’' Seaside Police Chief David Ham said after the sentencing hearing.
In a prepared statement, Oregon U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams said, “It is maddening to know that criminals involved in drug trafficking and the illegal possession of firearms continue to present a danger to our communities. I want to thank ATF and the local law enforcement agencies who pursued this investigation...It is our sincere hope that this sentence will offer some measure of justice -albeit small -to Sergeant Goodding’s family and the Seaside community.”
Darek Pleasants, special agent in charge of the ATF Seattle Division, called Gooding’s killing a tragedy. “ATF is proud to have been able to work alongside our partner agencies to identify and bring Jamie Lee Jones to justice.’'
©2017 The Oregonian