Parolee Convicted of Threatening Deputy

A parolee was convicted Tuesday of assault with a deadly weapon and other felony charges stemming from a crime spree that included holding a gun to the face of a sheriff’s deputy and threatening to kill her.

James Jay Hunt, 42, returns to Orange County Superior Court today for a second trial phase. Jurors will be asked to make findings either upholding or rejecting his previous criminal convictions, including armed robbery and burglary convictions. Hunt faces a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison under the state’s “three strikes” law.

The confrontation with the deputy unfolded on April 24, 1995, after residents in the 2200 block of Redlands Drive in Santa Ana Heights called the Sheriff’s Department to report that a well-dressed man had been slumped for more than two hours over the steering wheel of a car with the engine running, authorities said.

When the deputy arrived, the driver pointed a semiautomatic handgun in her face and told her he would shoot her in the head if she tried to stop him from getting away. The gunman shot the front tires of the deputy’s patrol car, stole her gun and fled, authorities said.

Less than an hour later, police said, he broke into the home of a 73-year-old Newport Beach woman, tied her up, took some jewelry and stole her white Ford Mustang.

Neither victim was physically injured.

Hunt, who testified that he only meant to scare the deputy, was identified through a videotape from the deputy’s patrol car camera as well as fingerprints taken from the scene.

The defendant, who was wanted at the time for a parole violation, was arrested four days later when police found him at a Westminster motel.

Jurors deliberated about 4 1/2 hours before finding Hunt guilty of seven felony charges in connection with the assault on the deputy, the Newport Beach robbery, a previous burglary in Anaheim and being a felon in possession of a handgun.