Solicitor: Spartanburg man sentenced to prison for criminal domestic violence

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A Spartanburg man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for criminal domestic violence as well as a concurrent 20 years for two other offenses.

According to the solicitor’s office, officers with the Spartanburg Police Department responded Imperial Drive on March 13, 2021. for a call regarding gunshot fires. The man shooting the gun fled from police but was taken into custody after officers deployed a taser. The suspect was identified as Jamie Terrell Kates.

On May 16, 2021, the solicitor’s office said Kates went into a home where a woman was asleep. Kates shattered the woman’s bedroom door and made entry. He grabbed her phone before she could so she fled. Kates chased after her and started to punch and kick the victim multiple times in her head, back and legs. A neighbor pulled up and the victim fled.

Officials mentioned at the time of the attack the victim had an Order of Protection against Kates.

Following the attack by Kates, the victim, who was pregnant, went to Project R.E.S.T., formerly Safe Homes Rape Crisis Coalition and ultimately lost the baby.

The solicitor’s office said on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2023, Kates pleaded guilty to criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, burglary in the second degree violent, and possession of a weapon by a violent felon. In the same hearing, Kates also pleaded guilty to resisting arrest; he received a time-served sentence for that latter offense. Kates will served 85 percent of his 20 year prison sentence.

Assistant Solicitor Spenser Smith prosecuted Kates and noted “this result was only possible due to the strength of the victim to come forward the night of the attack and her further insistence for justice on the day of Kates’ guilty plea.”

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