Denial of Bail Urged in Man’s Wild Car Ride

The man who took his child and then drove around the South Bay with his estranged wife clinging to the hood of his car is too dangerous to be released on bail, a district attorney’s report says.

In addition to his behavior Aug. 17, when the wild ride took place, Russell Allen Jobst, 43, of Hawaii recently beat and burned his wife several times, “resulting in wife and son having to be housed in (a) battered spouse/child shelter home twice,” according to the report filed in Torrance Municipal Court.

During ongoing divorce proceedings, Jobst twice threatened to kill his wife and also threatened his mother, brother and uncle, the report said. “They report that if the defendant is released, the defendant will come after them,” the document says.

Jobst, a former United Airlines pilot, is being held without bail in County Jail pending a bail review Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of child endangerment.

The district attorney’s report asks the court to deny bail on grounds that Jobst faces a capital charge and that there is “a substantial likelihood of grave bodily harm or death if the defendant is released.”

The report says that Jobst had recently been forced to retire from United Airlines “due to mental problems.”

Jobst’s attorney, Franklin S. Adler, denounced the report as “very excessive” and filled with misstatements of fact and law, including the allegation that Jobst is charged with a capital offense. Prosecutors will not be able to prove Jobst’s “future dangerousness,” Adler said.

The report says that Jobst earns $4,000 a month in tax-free retirement income, owns real estate in Hawaii, can afford virtually any bail and “will flee out of the jurisdiction if released.”

His wife, Madonna Roslyn Jobst-Kennedy, a 36-year-old stewardess, suffered only minor injuries despite the half-hour incident in which she jumped onto the car and clung to the hood when Jobst tried to drive off with their son.