A University Place man who pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend with a torch lighter and threatening to kill her during a days-long trip on the man’s sailboat has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
James Ray Wilson, 62, pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic violence assault and two counts of felony harassment with threats to kill for events that occurred on his sailboat offshore between July 28 and Aug. 1, 2023. Court records described the victim being choked into unconsciousness, punched, slammed into a wall, burned with a lighter and otherwise assaulted over three days.
“Wilson threatened to kill [the victim] by ‘holding a red folding knife to her leg and throat, telling her that he was going to cut her up into little pieces and dump the remains of her body on an island,’” prosecutors wrote in charging papers. “Wilson later told [the victim] that he would ‘tie her up to the anchor of the boat and throw her overboard.’”
The sentence Pierce County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Martin imposed Thursday was at the high end of the standard sentencing range for defendants prosecuted in similar cases, and it was in line with prosecutors’ recommendation. The punishment included a 12-month deadly weapon sentencing enhancement.