Guilty Plea Entered to Assault Charge

A Los Angeles police officer accused of holding his wife captive and threatening to kill her pleaded not guilty Monday in San Fernando Superior Court.

Jeffery Jerome Carter, 39, of Santa Clarita was charged with assault with a firearm, spousal abuse and two counts of making terrorist threats, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lori Dery.

At a preliminary hearing earlier this month Carter’s wife Gail testified that on Oct. 21, Carter told her “if she had gotten home five minutes later he would have shot her when she stepped out of her truck,” Dery said.

Carter then held the woman in the garage of their home at gunpoint, “had her get down on her hands and knees and said goodby to her,” Dery said. He later allowed Gail Carter to leave without further incident.

The charge of spousal abuse stemmed from an incident about three weeks earlier in which Carter grabbed his wife by the neck and choked her, Dery said.

Carter could be sentenced to 11 years and four months in prison if convicted of all charges, Dery said.

Carter, a 13-year department veteran, is a patrol officer in the North Hollywood Division. He is now assigned to non-field duties pending the outcome of an internal investigation, Lt. John Dunkin said.