Man Handed 13-Year Sentence Leaps to His Death

Jason Binkiewicz died Friday
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 28, 2016 4:24 PM CDT
Man Handed 13-Year Sentence Leaps to His Death
Jason Binkiewicz.   (Police handout)

Sudden death apparently sounded better to Jason Binkiewicz than 13 years in prison. The 42-year-old Dillonvale, Ohio, man had in July been found guilty of attempted murder and felony assault after shooting a man in the face on Nov. 27, 2015; he was handed a 13-year sentence Friday morning, reports WTOV. What followed were screams, but not his own: Prosecutor Jane Hanlin says a deputy escorted Binkiewicz out of the courtroom per procedure, but as they approached the elevator the convict took off running and threw himself over the banister of the Jefferson County Courthouse's third floor, reports the Intelligencer. Binkiewicz fell roughly 30 feet to his death.

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla says the deputy managed to catch Binkiewicz by the jumpsuit, but had he held on, "most likely [the deputy] would have gone over with him." Abdalla says Binkiewicz wasn't wearing ankle shackles as he had previously complained about swollen ankles; his hands were cuffed. But Abdalla tells WTOV that even if he had been shackled, "there's enough movement that he could have still made it to the railing and jumped over." Said Hanlin, "We certainly had no idea this would happen." (This man killed himself in court in June after hearing his sentence read.)

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