Man who shot woman in head at Red Top Motel sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison
A 32-year-old man who shot a woman in the head last year at a Spokane Valley motel and fled from police was sentenced Thursday to 19½ years in prison.
As part of a plea agreement, Joshua Seth pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and attempt to elude a police vehicle.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge Pro Tempore Harold Clarke III followed the agreement and sentenced Seth to 234 months in prison.
The shooting stems from March 30, 2022, when a man collected a “debt” from Seth and then returned to the Red Top Motel, 7217 E. Trent Ave., where the man was staying with his wife, according to court documents.
The man told police he, his wife and at least one other acquaintance were inside one of the motel rooms when he heard several gunshots from outside the room and realized his wife had been shot in the head.
The condition of the gunshot victim was unclear Thursday, but she is alive.
She was unconscious with a bullet lodged in her brain the day after the shooting at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, documents say.
Surveillance footage from the motel and another business showed a silver sport utility vehicle, consistent in appearance to Seth’s Nissan Pathfinder, driving east on Trent at the time of the shooting, which was around 11:45 a.m., documents say.
Nine gunshots could be heard on one of the video recordings as the vehicle went past the motel.
The next day, Seth and a woman left a South Zabo Road residence, south of the Spokane International Airport, in the Pathfinder, court records show. Investigators surveilling the residence in anticipation of searching the home tried to conduct a stop on Seth but he sped away.
Shortly after Seth fled from deputies, Seth drove to a family member’s Spokane Valley residence and told him something akin to “They’re coming for me,” the family member told police.
Seth hid his Pathfinder in the backyard and appeared to hide an item in a workbench drawer inside the garage, according to documents. The family member found a .45 -caliber semiautomatic pistol in the drawer after Seth left.
The pistol was loaded with the same brand .45-caliber cartridges found at the Zabo residence and outside the motel.
On Thursday, Seth stood up and apologized for the shooting and to his family. His grandparents sat behind Seth in the courtroom.
“I’m really sorry to put this on my family,” said Seth, wearing white Spokane County inmate clothing.
Seth’s attorney, David Partovi, said fentanyl played a huge role in Seth’s crimes that day, but “he’s a completely different human being” and has turned his life around the last 15 months in jail.
“He’s really gone from a place of significant chaos to a place of significant order,” Partovi said.
Seth will serve 18 months of community custody when he is released from prison.