A Vancouver man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for strangling his former wife and beating her new boyfriend in April 2023.
A Clark County Superior Court jury found Nathan M. Bowers, 39, guilty last month of first-degree assault, second-degree domestic violence assault and interfering with a report of domestic violence.
Court records show he’s since appealed his conviction.
A co-defendant, Clinton A. Callaway, 40, of St. Helens, Ore., pleaded guilty in August 2023 to second-degree assault and first-degree criminal trespass. He was sentenced to four months in the county jail, court records show.
Vancouver police responded around 9:30 p.m. April 10, 2023, to a house in the 200 block of West 39th Street for reports of a burglary. Someone reported hearing screaming and banging coming from the house, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Investigators said they learned a woman and her boyfriend, identified as James Fairbrother, were at her house when Bowers and Callaway arrived without notice. She said Bowers, whom she identified as her former husband, did not live at the house with her, but he still kept tabs on her, the affidavit states.
Bowers and Callaway began banging on doors and windows, and Callaway tried to break down the front door, she said. She tried to keep the door shut, but Callaway managed to break in. Both men forced their way inside, court records state.
The woman said Bowers pushed her against a wall, grabbed her by the neck and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe. Officers observed red marks on her neck, according to the affidavit.
Fairbrother had run downstairs to the basement, she said, and Callaway pursued him. Eventually, Bowers let her go and went to the basement, where Callaway was beating Fairbrother. The woman said she followed Bowers to try to stop the attack. When she tried to call 911, she said Bowers took her phone from her, court records state.
Arriving officers arrested Bowers and Callaway. Police found Fairbrother lying in the basement with what appeared to be blunt-force injuries to his head. Medical personnel took him to an area hospital. Hospital staff later told investigators Fairbrother was admitted to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator. A surgeon told officers the man likely would’ve died if medical personnel hadn’t arrived as quickly as they did, court records state.
