Man sentenced to more than one year in prison after attacking girlfriend
A man was sentenced last week to a little more than a year in prison following a long history of violence against his wife and later a girlfriend, according to court records filed in Spokane County Superior Court.
Douglas Eggleston, 37, of Nine Mile Falls, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and interfering with reporting of domestic violence.
The charges stemmed from an incident with his girlfriend. Judge John Cooney sentenced Eggleston to 15 months in prison and 18 months community custody.
Eggleston was originally arrested in May 2021 on suspicion of second-degree assault and harassment following an attack on his wife of 16 years in April that was so bad she suffered partial hearing loss. According to court documents, Eggleston threatened to kill his wife and then showed up at her office, where he was then arrested.
Eggleston bonded out on $25,000. However, a protection order was granted by a judge to prevent him from possessing weapons or contacting his wife or their children. His wife filed for divorce in June 2021.
That did not stop him from beating another woman throughout 2021, while still married to his wife, according to records.
After he was prevented from living with his wife, he moved in with his new girlfriend and her children, court documents said. After months of abuse, his girlfriend decided to break up with him on July 29. The next day, he drove her to a secluded area where he hit and strangled her to the point she thought she would die, documents said.
Eggleston begged his girlfriend not to report the abuse, saying he would seek help for his anger, and also threatened that she wouldn’t see her kids anymore if she did, court documents said. She reported months of abuse to police in August 2021.
At one point in 2020, a Florida judge also granted an order preventing Eggleston from having access to firearms for a year after he pointed a gun to his head and made suicidal statements.
Eggleston was also facing two counts of harassment in connection to the threats against his wife, but those charges were dismissed. He has been in jail in Spokane since July 2022.