A 36-year-old Little Rock man who hid in his ex-girlfriend's car and shot her and her boyfriend in an ambush has accepted an 80-year prison sentence rather than face a Pulaski County jury next week.
Jason Lee Vance pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated residential burglary, attempted capital murder and first-degree battery in exchange for prosecutors recommending the 80-year term to Circuit Judge Chris Piazza and dropping eight other counts, including committing a terroristic act, criminal possession of body armor and three counts of aggravated assault.
Vance, who has convictions for felony stalking and possessing weapons in jail, must serve 20 years before he is eligible for parole, said senior deputy prosecutor Marianne Satterfield. His trial was set for Wednesday, and he faced a potential life sentence.
The victims attended Monday's sentencing. The couple announced they had a daughter in May.
Vance shot and wounded Jessica Lynn Upchurch, 33, in the leg and her boyfriend Gary Carter Jr., 35, in the hand in the April 2014 attack. Upchurch was able to return fire with her gun and shot Vance in the groin; he then fled.
According to police reports, Upchurch said she and Carter were getting some clothes out of her car at her Metsy Lane home when Vance, armed and wearing a bullet-resistant vest, jumped out of the trunk of the vehicle.
He fired a shot and chased Upchurch into the house, following her into a small bedroom where Upchurch grabbed her gun. Vance shot Upchurch as she tried to get away and she returned fire, striking him.
Vance fled to a neighboring home where he pointed his gun at the family of three, Charles and Joann Thompson and their son, Tristian, told them he had been shot and needed help.
Vance surrendered the weapon to Charles Thompson on the family's front porch, where he remained until sheriff's deputies arrived, a police report said.
Vance denied hiding in the trunk, telling sheriff's investigators that he had waited in Upchurch's car and that when the couple saw him, they went into the home, got guns and returned. He said he pulled a gun he had found under the front seat of the car, court files show. He said he had only gone into the home to speak with Upchurch about an order of protection she had earlier filed against him. He denied having a bullet-resistant vest or intending to kill Upchurch.
Carter told deputies that Vance had left him a voice mail the day before the attack, threatening to kill the couple.
Court records show that Vance has a misdemeanor conviction for violating an order of protection regarding Upchurch. She got the order in 2013 after complaining that Vance had stalked her for two months after she broke off all contact with him, five months after moving out of the home they had shared during a two-year relationship.
In the application for the order, she said he repeatedly showed up, including at her job, and made multiple phone calls and left text messages, even sending her photographs of himself with a gun in his mouth.
He had previously been physically violent toward her, the June 2013 application states. Vance was subsequently court-ordered to stay away from Upchurch for two years, a term that was extended to 10 years after his arrest.
In 2009, Vance, while living in Bryant, and another man, 48-year-old Charles Odis Strain, were sentenced to two years in prison after Saline County jailers found each had a handmade knife while they were in jail there in January 2009. Deputies, investigating rumors of a planned escape, discovered the men had the weapons during a search, court filings show.
In 2006, Vance pleaded guilty to second-degree stalking and violation of a protection order involving another woman, 34-year-old Chrystal Scott-Smith of Bryant, in exchange for a sentence of two years in prison followed by a three-year suspended sentence. He subsequently was returned to prison for an eight-month sentence in March 2009 after violating terms of his release because, in part, he had again harassed Scott-Smith.
Metro on 06/13/2015