Man gets 20 years for assault

EPHRATA — Jason B. Latimer  will serve almost 20 years in prison for shooting a man in Soap Lake.

A jury found 33-year-old Latimer guilty of assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree after a five-day trial in October.

Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz sentenced him to 19 years and eight months in prison and ordered Latimer not to contact either victim.

The March 2008 incident started with a series of arguments between Latimer and his ex-girlfriend while she  was driving with another man toward Soap Lake, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office reported. When the two people reached Soap Lake, the woman spotted Latimer approaching in his mother’s van and waving a revolver.

In an attempt to escape Latimer, she started driving westbound on Main Street. While she tried to make a U-turn, Latimer stopped his van, trapping her vehicle between two cars on the side of the road.

Latimer and the woman got out of their vehicles, meeting on the passenger side of her car. She told police he started yelling and waving the gun, according to the police report. When she tried to calm him down, he broke the passenger’s side window of her vehicle. Then he attempted to punch the woman. When she looked away, he shot her passenger. The bullet passed through the passenger’s arm, entered his torso and lodged in his liver. He survived the wound.

After shooting the man, Latimer jumped into the van and drove away.