Rape, assault suspect says he’s innocent

A 38-year-old Spokane man known by friends as “Billy Jack” pleaded innocent Wednesday to felony charges of first-degree rape, first- and second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment. They are the latest charges against a man with 39 convictions who, according to friends and a former girlfriend, has a long history of abusing women.

Court documents say Clayton Dennis Jones III dragged an acquaintance into the bedroom of a North Side house on Tuesday and demanded she perform oral sex. Jones held the woman in the room for an hour and a half, hit her in the head with a club at least once, bit her neck and thigh, and threatened her with two knives, according to documents.

The officer who responded to the 1000 block of N. Napa saw bite marks on the left side of the woman’s neck and thigh, finger marks around her neck and a lump on the left side of her head, the documents state. The officer also found a “5 in 1” knife and a 3-foot wooden club at the scene, as well as a buck knife on the passenger-side floor of Jones’ car, according to the papers.

One of the residents at the house where the attack is alleged to have occurred said she heard the woman scream about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“She kept saying ‘Get off me, get off me, get off me,’ ” said Emily Haid, 18.

Residents of the house didn’t enter the room, Haid said, because they never heard the woman call out for help.

Haid’s boyfriend, Jay Johnson, who also lives at the residence, said Jones is very demanding. He said Jones throws a fit if he doesn’t get his way. He added that he doesn’t get along with Jones.

Residents said Jones eventually left the house, only to come back around 10 p.m. and leave again. The same officer who arrested Jones on the felony charges also wrote him a misdemeanor citation for exerting “words,” “acts” and “physical force” against his wife, Shon K. Fiege, whom Jones went to visit Tuesday evening.

Jones was in a jail jumpsuit Wednesday afternoon, shackled to other prisoners, when he pleaded innocent to the charges before Judge Patti C. Walker. He will be in court Aug. 23 on the misdemeanor charge.

In August 1999, Jones was charged with unlawful imprisonment for holding an ex-girlfriend against her will. The woman, Spokane resident Kimberly Blackman, was able to escape from Jones after eight hours by running topless from the location, she said.

According to court documents, Jones told her, “You’re not going anywhere if you’re naked.”

Blackman said Jones only fights with women and that during the August 1999 altercation – for which he served time – Jones beat her with an aluminum bat.

“He’s going to kill somebody one of these days,” she said.