A Warren man will spend at least the next 10 years in state prison for repeated domestic assaults and a stand-off with law enforcement.

Joseph L. Armstrong, 37, Warren, was sentenced Friday by President Judge Maureen Skerda.

Chief Public Defender Kord Kinney said, prior to these offenses, that his client’s last offense was in 2011 and that there is “not a whole lot on his adult record” prior to this string of crimes.

He told Skerda that 2020 marked the start of a meth addiction that led to the charges.

“Mr. Armstrong takes full responsibility for his actions and addictions,” he said.

The initial allegations against Armstrong included rape charges as well as allegations that he attempted to fill the victim’s house with gas from a stove.

In presenting the basis for the pleas, Skerda said Armstrong once threw a boot at the victim’s chest and struck her, causing bruises and fractured ribs. He also pleaded guilty to threatening to burn her house down.

In the wake of a Nov. 5 standoff with law enforcement when Armstrong was taken into custody, the alleged victim provided additional information to police. Police allege she stayed with Armstrong the night before and returned to a note from Armstrong, believing him to not be at the residence.

Police say the victim reported that Armstrong took her upstairs “where he tied her hands and feet together using an extension cord,” continuing to hit her and blaming her “for all his previous arrests.”

Assistant District Attorney Casey Strickland said that these domestic assaults are “one of the worst that I’ve seen and that my boss (District Attorney Rob Greene) has seen, as well.”

She walked through the assault allocations. from striking the victim to a degree that facial reconstruction surgery was required and that finger nail polish was dumped over her head amid threats to light the victim on fire.

Strickland said this “horrible incident” will affect the victim for the rest of her life.

Armstrong declined to comment when given the opportunity to do so.

Skerda highlighted incidents in the jail from refusing to stand for head count multiple times as well as involvement in a “tattooing incident” as evidence he has failed to adjust to the county system.

She cited a letter from his mother to say that “we’re not here for who you may have treated well” and that his risk assessment, or the likelihood that he would commit additional crimes, as “one of the highest levels I’ve seen.”

Skerda said Armstrong “can’t say” the conduct is “just drug induced,” citing physical and emotional injuries “that may last a lifetime.”

She then sentenced Armstrong on a total of 10 charges bringing 128 to 256 months of incarceration in state prison: 84 months to 168 months incarceration, a no contact/no trespass order, submission of a DNA sample, $1,875 in fines and fees, 239 days credit for time served and priority for drug and alcohol and mental health treatment in state prison on a count of aggravated assault; 11 to 22 months incarceration on a count of flight to avoid apprehension; 11 to 22 months on a count of terroristic threats; 11 to 22 months incarceration on another count of terroristic threats; two year probation on a count of criminal mischief; 11 to 22 months incarceration and $775 in fines and fees on a count of simple assault; $300 on a count of harassment; one year probation, 150 hours of community service and $775 in fines and fees on a count of unauthorized use of motor vehicles and $425 in fines and fees on a count of harassment.