Convicted sex offender Gregory Wright stared straight ahead and appeared to shake his head in disbelief as the judge read aloud the jury’s verdict in his kidnapping and attempted assault trial: guilty on both charges.
Wright, 35, of Vancouver attacked a female mental health counselor in January 2015 after trapping her inside a room in the Clark County Jail’s medical unit. He had been incarcerated in the jail on a pending charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
The Clark County Superior Court jury, which heard two days of testimony, returned the guilty verdicts on first-degree kidnapping and attempted second-degree assault after deliberating for about 3.5 hours Thursday afternoon.
Wright will be sentenced Feb. 10.
“We’re pleased with the verdict. It’s in line with the evidence and trauma suffered by the victim,” Deputy Prosecutor James Smith said after the trial.
Jurors also had the option of finding Wright guilty on lesser charges of attempted first-degree kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault. The defense had argued the incident did not rise to the level of kidnapping or attempted assault, because deadly force wasn’t used and the victim wasn’t actually abducted.
Just before 4 p.m. Jan. 13, 2015, Wright met with mental health counselor John Furze, but after the session requested to speak with a different mental health counselor, a specific blonde woman he had talked to before, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court.
The woman, identified as Kristine Nystrom, met with Wright in one of the residential pods at the jail. However, Wright asked if they could talk in her office in the jail’s medical unit, and she agreed. They met in the office and kept the door open, per jail policy, so that a corrections deputy could see inside, the affidavit said.
Not long into their conversation, Wright “suddenly stood up like he was going to leave the office and said, in a quiet but rough tone of voice, ‘What can you do for me?'” Clark County sheriff’s Detective Kevin Harper wrote in the affidavit.
Wright then looked out the door, kicked out the door stop, closed the door and struck Nystrom in the face, knocking her to the floor, court records said.
Nystrom testified Tuesday that when she stood up, Wright grabbed her by the neck, but she wriggled free. He then attempted to barricade the door with a heavy metal desk from inside the office. She dove behind the desk, she said, and Wright pulled at the neck of her sweater.
Corrections deputies heard Nystrom screaming for help, forced the door open and pulled her out of the room.
Court records show she suffered minor injuries, including bruising to the left side of her neck, right side of her face, right jawline and back of her left hand. She also had abrasions on her left elbow and right thigh, swelling on her head and a cut on her left index finger.
Wright told detectives in an interview that he remembered speaking with Nystrom but didn’t remember attacking her.
Earlier on Thursday, Smith told the jury that Wright had stalked Nystrom throughout the jail and cornered her like prey.
“Terror, pain, I’m going to die. That’s what was going through Kristine Nystrom’s mind when she was trapped with the defendant in a cement, windowless room,” he said.
He argued it doesn’t matter if Wright grabbed Nystrom’s neck with one or two hands or whether he cut off her airway — a point the defense raised during the trial. Smith said Wright intended to strangle her, even if he wasn’t successful. “It’s fortunate it (didn’t) end according to his plan,” he said.
Smith asked jurors to focus on Wright’s intent, and also urged them to disregard what isn’t evidence — claims from the defense that the attack was “staged” or “choreographed” by officers and Nystrom.
Although there wasn’t video evidence of the attack, jurors saw photos of Nystrom’s injuries, heard her testimony of what occurred and saw video surveillance of the correction deputies’ response.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Louis Byrd Jr. argued the evidence amounts to a fourth-degree assault and that the incident was no more significant than a domestic-violence situation. “There was no deadly force used in that room, period,” he said.
“Assaults happen every day. Individuals are pushed, punched, pulled, touched every day. Husbands, wives, spouses, significant others get confined in rooms and get punched, pulled, dragged every day in America. Are those kidnappings?” Byrd asked the jury.
If Wright had used deadly force in the 25 seconds he and Nystrom were in the room, “You would have seen something else totally different in those pictures,” Byrd said, referring to photos taken of Nystrom’s injuries.
He argued that where an assault happens shouldn’t make the crime more or less atrocious. “An assault is an assault, no matter where it takes place,” Byrd said, calling the case “a status prosecution.” The defense’s position was that the case was overcharged.
“It was a simple assault. You’ve all seen people that are black-and-blue. Who hasn’t gotten a black eye? Who hasn’t given a black eye?” Byrd asked, adding that it’s “laughable” to think an inmate could hide someone in a county jail.
“You should be fearful that the government can pick and choose when to elevate a crime,” he added.
After the trial, Byrd said in an interview that it was a tough case. “You do the best you can,” he said.
Wright is required to register as a sex offender in connection with a second-degree assault with sexual motivation from 1998 and four convictions for failing to register as a sex offender.
He’s also facing a pending murder charge. Wright is accused of fatally strangling 19-year-old Daytona Hudgins, whose body was discovered at a homeless camp July 19, 2014.
