Benton deputy’s ex-husband heading to WA prison after threatening to kill her
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kenneth Couch received over five years in prison for assaulting his ex-wife.
- The incident involved a gun, unlawful imprisonment and domestic violence.
- Jennifer Couch left the sheriff’s office after the traumatic 2025 incident.
A former Benton County sheriff’s deputy spent 18 years facing danger for her job, but the biggest threat came from her own family member.
“I have never been more afraid in my life,” Jennifer Couch said in a letter to the Tri-Cities judge who was about to sentence her ex-husband to prison.
When Kenneth T. Couch aimed a 9 mm pistol at her in April, she prayed the blast would hit her in the stomach so she might survive to fight for her two young children.
In the end, he didn’t shoot her but struck her. Last week, Kenneth Couch, 57, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment. He will serve five years and eight months in prison, with three of those years the result of using a gun.
Superior Court Judge Joe Burrowes said officers like Jennifer Couch are heroes who take care of people in their time of need.
“When one of these officers becomes the victim, it’s a whole different game. Especially when it’s someone who they thought would be their protector,” he said. “This has changed her forever. She will never be the same. ... I hope and pray that she gets through it.”
Defense attorney Daniel Stovern said this was out of character for Kenneth Couch, who wanted to resolve the case quickly.
“He’s embarrassed, and he’s heartbroken, and he is sorry,” Stovern said. “I’ve rarely met a defendant who has thought as long and hard about the one day that changed their life.”
Couch apologized to his ex-wife and their children, saying that he is an alcoholic.
“I would give anything to take that back,” he said.
Domestic violence attack on deputy
The couple was married in 2009 but Jennifer Couch said her husband’s alcohol addiction finally drove her to ask for a divorce in early 2025. .
While they had started the process of divorcing, he was still living with her and their children on April 1.
She later told police that he started drinking at 5 a.m. that day, and she recognized the signs of a bad day coming.
As she prepared to leave at about 1:30 p.m., Kenneth Couch pointed the gun at her with his finger on the trigger.
“Jennifer stated that she tried to call 911 on her cellphone, but the defendant forcibly grabbed it out of her hands and told her she ‘wasn’t going to do that,’” said the affidavit of probable cause.
He stopped her from leaving and told her that he was going to shoot her for ruining his life. When she tried to leave, he hit her across the face.
She believed that he was going to shoot and pleaded for him to drop the weapon.
They fought over the gun, and during the struggle, she was able to eject the magazine and the bullet from the chamber.
He then agreed to let her and the children go if she reloaded the pistol. She reported hearing a gunshot as they left the house.
The first emergency crews found Kenneth Couch in the front driveway with blood on his hands, though he did not have a gunshot wound.
Jennifer Couch walked up from across the street and was eventually taken to Prosser Memorial Hospital for unknown injuries.
She has since left her deputy job in Benton County, where she’d worked since November 2023 and for Yakima police before that.
She also spent eight years working for the city and county of Denver and seven years with the Randall County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office, according to her LinkedIn profile.