Jeffrey Woodfield acquitted of most serious charges in rest stop kidnapping case

A man accused of abducting his ex-girlfriend and beating her until she escaped at a rest stop in Whitewater was acquitted of some of the most serious charges on which he was prosecuted — attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

Jeffery George Woodfield, 36, of Palm Springs, broke into tears as the not guilty verdicts were read on charges that potentially could have resulted in a sentence of life in prison.

Jurors found him guilty of making threats to injure and assault, but were unable to reach verdicts on the remaining counts: kidnapping, robbery, preventing a victim from seeking help, domestic abuse within seven years of another domestic abuse, and assault likely to cause great bodily injury.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge John G. Evans ordered the jury to resume deliberations on those counts for the remainder of the morning and for 30 minutes after the lunch break. After that, Evans said he would consider declaring a mistrial if jurors, who got the case Tuesday afternoon, remain deadlocked.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Hightower alleged during his closing argument that the charges stemmed from the second time in two years that Woodfield had terrorized, then beat up a girlfriend who wanted to break up with him.

This time, the prosecutor said, jurors should hold the defendant accountable by finding him guilty of eight felony charges.

“Nobody leaves him,” Hightower said of Woodfield’s mindset. “It’s not like he just makes these empty threats, not this guy. He carries them out.”

He alleged that Woodfield forcibly yanked Patricia Meredith from a Palm Springs McDonald’s restaurant on March 20, threw her in his car and sped away, beating and choking the kicking, screaming victim until she was able to squirm free and dial 911 at the rest stop off Interstate 10.

“What we know is that he wanted to end her life,” Hightower said. Defense attorney Ronny Hettena asserted that the district attorney’s office severely overcharged the case by filing charges like attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery.

Hettena argued that — despite saying that she didn’t want to leave the restaurant with Woodfield — Meredith opened her own car door, buckled her own seat belt and failed to jump out of the car at any of the five traffic signals and four stop signs they encountered en route to Interstate 10.

“There was no kidnapping here,” Hettena said. “She went voluntarily.” He said the text messages were mean, vulgar and disrespectful, but hardly criminal.

Woodfield took the woman’s backpack at the McDonald’s restaurant and put it in the car, but cell phone records show the woman maintained access to her cell phone and placed numerous calls, including an eventual 911 request for help, Hettena said.

Hettena told jurors there was no evidence that Woodfield used a weapon and reminded the panel about photographs of injuries sustained by Meredith, which included a few light scratches and some bruises.

“We didn’t see one life-threatening injury,” the lawyer said. “The number of overcharged crimes; it’s preposterous.”

Woodfield’s arrest came less than two months after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of battery involving a different woman he assaulted in February 2014. Woodfield was sentenced in that case to three years probation, 20 hours of community service and a year of domestic violence classes, court records show.