A Nicholson man was sentenced this week to serve 88 years in prison after a 2021 incident in which he fired shots at deputies at close range while barricaded inside a Jackson County home.
Piedmont Judicial Circuit Judge Currie Mingledorff sentenced James Ryan Standridge, 40, to the maximum in the case, including 20 years in confinement each on three counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, 20 years for aggravated assault under the Family Violence Act, five years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and three years for possession of methamphetamine, court documents show.
All sentences are to be served consecutively.
Standridge was set to begin trial on Monday, but instead entered a blind guilty plea on the charges, meaning no plea bargain was reached with prosecutors prior to court.
On Aug. 19, 2021, deputies responded to a home on Waterworks Road in Nicholson, where a caller said James Ryan Standridge had been drinking all day, causing issues, and possibly making verbal threats, a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office incident report states.
Because Standridge had outstanding arrest warrants and a history of running if he saw officers, five deputies went to the location to arrest him, the report states.
Initially, two deputies entered the home, with a third called inside to help once Standridge failed to acknowledge deputies’ commands to unlock the door of the bedroom he was inside and to surrender.
“A gunshot came from James’ bedroom and the bullet went through the drywall in the hallway right next to my head where I was standing,” one deputy wrote. “Drywall blasted into my eyes, and I advised dispatch ‘shots fired’ and retreated to cover while trying to wipe the drywall out of my eyes.”
At one point prior to his surrender, Standridge allegedly exited the bedroom with the revolver pointed at his head, saying if deputies did not shoot him he would shoot himself.
Standridge was charged with aggravated assault on the three deputies inside the home with his father’s black revolver, which had been concealed underneath a mattress.
Standridge has served several previous sentences through the Georgia Department of Corrections from criminal convictions in Jackson County. Those charges include terroristic threats and acts, multiple counts of battery under the Family Violence Act, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and several others.
