NKY man sentenced for kidnapping, assaulting wife for hours in 'violent nightmare' case

A Covington man who prosecutors say held his wife captive and tortured her for hours before barricading himself inside her home in a lengthy standoff with police was sentenced on Monday to 60 years in prison.

The sentence, handed down to 49-year-old Jamie Simpson by Kenton County Circuit Court Judge Kate Molloy, matched a recommendation from the jury that found Simpson guilty during his four-day trial in February.

He was convicted of burglary, kidnapping, assault, strangulation, tampering with a witness and being a persistent felony offender.

Simpson’s wife testified she awoke early in the morning on Feb. 22, 2023, to find her husband sitting on top of her.

Over the next four hours, Simpson beat his wife with a mason jar and candle, punched and kicked her, strangled her and held a knife to her side and neck while accusing the woman of having an affair, according to trial testimony.

Prosecutors say Simpson also told his wife that she was going to die.

All the while, his wife testified, Simpson looked through her phone for proof and prevented her from leaving despite her pleas to be released.

She was only able to get away after an alarm went off around 6:30 a.m. and she told Simpson she had to make her family court appointment or someone would come looking for her.

Simpson’s wife dropped the children off at daycare and went to St. Elizabeth Hospital, where she reported the assault to the police, she testified.

Despite a court order to stay at least 500 feet from his wife, Simpson remained at the Idlewood Drive home, where he’d been staying the day before the assault. His wife admitted in court that she did not notify the police once he began violating that order.

Covington police responded to the house, aware that Simpson was possibly armed with a knife and shotgun, and they encountered Simpson as he walked out the front door, according to officers’ testimony.

Simpson testified that he saw an officer running toward him, so he went back inside and tried to run out the back door, where he encountered another officer who pointed a gun at him.

He said he retreated inside the house and holed up in the master bedroom, barricading the doors and windows with furniture.

It only ended after SWAT officers launched pepper spray rounds into the house, forcing Simpson out.

After he was arrested, Simpson continued to call and text his wife from jail, telling her not to show up for court and that she should relay to authorities that the assault didn’t happen, prosecutors said.

Simpson’s attorneys argued that a heated argument between the couple after Simpson discovered his wife’s affair led to him being overcharged with serious felony offenses.

“This is a simple case of a disagreement between two people that is overcomplicated and under-investigated,” said Alex Lacy, one of Simpson’s public defenders.

On the witness stand, Simpson admitted to striking his wife with his hand and a candle but continued to deny much of what he was convicted of, including holding his wife against her will.

"Jurors have little patience for felons who continue to commit crimes, especially when the crimes are a violent nightmare as in this case,” Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said in a statement.

Officials urge anyone who is a victim of domestic violence to contact the Ion Center for Violence Prevention at 859-491-3335 or www.ioncenter.org.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Covington man gets decades-long sentence in 'violent nightmare' case