An Arizona man who admits to multiple acts of aggravated assault and kidnap in two counties will serve less than four years in prison even though one of the assaults put his then-girlfriend in the hospital for weeks with a punctured lung and several broken ribs.
Travis Jermaine Wells will be sentenced later this month in a Cochise County courtroom after pleading guilty to assaulting the victim, identified as E.M., in October 2020 while out on bond in two Pima County cases involving the violent assault of the same woman earlier that year.
Wells, 40, was facing 40 years in prison if convicted at trial of all counts in both counties. However, he negotiated two plea agreement in a way which allows him to serve the sentences for both counties at the same time even though the incidents occurred months apart.
The Pima County plea deal included Wells’ admission that he committed a Class 3 felony of aggravated assault causing “serious physical injury” to E.M. on March 5, 2020. He also admitted committing a Class 2 kidnapping later in March 2020 with the intent to place her “in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury.”
Those injuries left E.M. in a hospital for nearly a month, according to court records.
Under Arizona’s sentencing guidelines, the presumptive (or midpoint) prison term Judge Brenden Griffin of the Pima County Superior Court could have imposed for the kidnap charge was 5 years while the most was 12.5 years. The presumptive for the aggravated assault charge was 3.5 years in prison, with a high of 8.75 years.
Griffin, who sentenced Wells in September, noted the defendant had four prior felony convictions which could be considered for sentencing purposes. The judge imposed the presumptive prison term for the assault charge followed by seven years of probation instead of prison for the kidnap charge.
Wells received less than 40 days of jail credit toward the Pima County sentence but is eligible for release after serving 85 percent of the sentence.
The Cochise County case stems from Wells’ activities several months after E.M. arranged to post his bail in the Pima County cases. Court records show Wells restrained E.M. at a Sierra Vista residence in October 2020, “with the intent to inflict death, physical injury, or a sexual offense on her.”
E.M. suffered a damaged ear drum and a fractured hand in that incident. Wells was ordered held on a no-bond order pending trial in the Cochise County case.
Judge Tim Dickerson will formally impose sentence Nov. 14 in that case. However, the sentencing hearing is just a formality as the plea deal stipulates Wells will serve a 3.75-year prison term for a Class 4 aggravated assault, to run concurrently (at the same time) to his prison time in the Pima County case.
Wells will receive credit toward his 3.75-year sentence for the more than two years Wells has spent in jail awaiting resolution of the case. He is also guaranteed probation of no more than 7 years on the Cochise County kidnap charge, a Class 2 felony.
Court records show investigators and prosecutors experienced several challenges in Wells’ cases, including courthouse closures and other delays caused by COVID-19. There was also a several month delay while Wells underwent a mental health evaluation last year to determine if he was competent to stand trial.
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Wells’ cases were also impacted due to what court files refer to as “challenges” involving the victim, who publicly declared her desire for the charges against Wells to be dismissed. She even received court permission to exchange mail and phone calls with him.
The victim also announced she did not plan to testify if the case went to trial, prompting Dickerson to advise the woman that a warrant would be issued to force her participation.
But the plea agreements Wells accepted resolved that issue while ensuing he does not have to serve a lengthy prison term despite pleading guilty to two Class 2 felonies.
