Jeffery Alma of Federal Way was granted an exceptional mitigated sentence of 24 months last Wednesday, Feb. 1, on a charge of Felony Domestic Violence Order Violation by Clallam Superior Court Judge Chris Melly. According to Court records, Alma, 30, had faced a standard range of 60 months, as requested by the prosecutor.

Court documents relate that on September 22, 2016, Alma was seen driving erratically on Hwy 110 near LaPush. Witnesses reported that a male driver was visibly striking a female passenger. At one point the passenger door was open and the female passenger was partially hanging out. After crossing the center line, the vehicle wrecked and landed upside down, blocking the eastbound lane for several hours. The male driver, later identified as Alma, was seen running into the woods. His wife, a protected party under a Court DV Protection Order, was pinned in the vehicle. She was hospitalized overnight with bruises and lacerations. Alma was tracked down hours later by an infra-red equipped Coast Guard helicopter and a K9 unit.

Alma was charged with felony Violation of a DV Protection Order based on previous convictions for violating DV Protection orders. In passing sentence following a plea of guilty, Judge Melly found that the victim was an initiator of the crime after she testified that she initiated contact with Alma and asked for leniency for him.

Alma has previous multiple misdemeanor convictions for violating DV protection orders and DV assaults, and felony convictions for robbery, burglary, residential burglaries, thefts, forgeries, and has pending felony charges in Pierce County and Kitsap Counties.