A Vancouver man was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for beating his girlfriend and another man — believed to also be her boyfriend — after that other boyfriend walked in on the couple when they were in bed together.
Christopher D. Reichel, 40, was convicted earlier this month by a Clark County Superior Court jury of two counts of second-degree assault and felony harassment stemming from the Nov. 25 incident.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Vancouver police responded at about 9:50 p.m. to a tavern in Rose Village for a report of an assault. The victim, Kevin Bradbury, had blood all over his face, right ear and the front of his shirt. He told police he had been unable to get in touch with his girlfriend after she told him she wasn’t feeling well, so he drove to her home in the 3100 block of Bridge Street and let himself in with his key.
But, once there, he found the woman in bed with Reichel, the affidavit states.
Court records identified Reichel as the woman’s husband; however, that is not the case. The woman also testified at trial that she had broken things off with Bradbury, though he testified he was under the impression they were still together, Deputy Prosecutor Luka Vitasovic said after Wednesday’s hearing.
Reichel jumped out of bed and began punching Bradbury in the head, and pushed him down the stairs, court records said. He told Bradbury he wasn’t going to let him leave and threatened to kill him. Bradbury managed to get to his car, left and called 911, according to court documents.
He was later treated at a hospital, where staff said he suffered a broken nose and shattered cartilage in his right ear, the affidavit states.
Police attempted to contact Reichel and the woman at her house, but no one answered the door.
A neighbor called police shortly after midnight to report a man and woman yelling at the house. The woman was yelling for the man to get out, court records said, and when officers arrived again, Reichel was gone.
The woman had swelling to the left side of her face, police said, and could barely speak. She said Reichel “freaked out” when officers first came to the house and tried to leave. He was drunk, she said, so she slashed his vehicle’s tires to stop him from driving. He then went “crazy” and began punching her in the face, according to court documents.
Hospital staff said she suffered a broken and dislocated jaw, court records said.
During sentencing, Reichel’s defense attorney, Gregg Schile, argued that the woman and Bradbury were the instigators of the altercation. But he said that Reichel made the mistake of not contacting the police during the incident.
Reichel told Judge Scott Collier that he is “ashamed” of what he did to the woman.
Faced with a sentencing range of 63 to 84 months, Collier handed down a 72-month sentence and 18 months of community custody. Reichel was given credit for 171 days in custody. He was ordered to undergo substance abuse and domestic violence evaluations.
