By Raul Hernandez
Ventura County Star
A judge sentenced a Ventura man to 25 years in prison Tuesday for firing more than 50 rounds at police during a standoff on Jade Drive in Ventura in 2009.
Jeffrey Stephen Fennell, 42, pleaded guilty in November to assault on a police officer with a semi-automatic weapon, assault with a deadly weapon and three counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, according to court records. Fennell also admitted to discharging a firearm.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell gave Fennell 1,151 days of credit for the time he spent in jail after his arrest.
Campbell found Fennell has a history of drug abuse and recommended the defendant attend drug counseling in prison. The judge dismissed the remaining criminal counts against him as part of a plea agreement, according to court records.
Authorities said Fennell had been drinking alcohol before the April 10, 2009, incident, which began about 5:50 p.m. with a report of a man holding his wife hostage at a home in the 900 block of Jade Drive. She escaped before police arrived.
Fennell refused to surrender to officers and fired at them, according to the Ventura Police Department. Bullets hit homes that had been evacuated and struck a fire station two blocks away. No neighbors or officers were injured.
Fennell surrendered more than four hours later after being shot by a SWAT officer.
Copyright 2012 Ventura County Star