San Diego
A man who brutally attacked a courthouse bailiff while in custody was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in state prison for the assault.
Christopher Leon (Ricky) Spells of Southeast San Diego was also given 10 years for his convictions on the three other crimes he was on trial for when the attack occurred March 6. Municipal Judge Richard J. Hanscom issued the 23-year sentence.
Spells, 29, was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in the attack on bailiff Gregory Giddings. The bailiff lost consciousness when Spells punched him in the face. Spells then smashed Giddings’ head on the concrete floor of a downtown courthouse holding cell, according to trial testimony.
At the time of the attack, Spells was on trial for--and was eventually convicted of--stabbing two fellow prisoners and possessing a knife while in custody.
“Prison was designed for people like Chris Spells,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Gloria Michaels, who told the judge that Spells has been in and out of custody since the age of 12.
Michaels said his involvement in the criminal justice system “has failed to teach him to exercise control.”
Hanscom called Spells a “menace” and noted that he continued to attack when the bailiff was helpless.
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