Vancouver man gets 23 years in robbery that left elderly man severely injured

The third and final Vancouver man involved in a violent robbery that put an elderly man in the hospital in critical condition was sentenced Thursday to nearly 23 years in prison.

Hayden Brewer, 23, pleaded guilty last month in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree attempted murder, robbery and arson.

Clark County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters were dispatched around 4 p.m. June 9, 2018, for a report of a vehicle on fire in the driveway of Bob Davis’ Ridgefield house. Then, responders found small fires inside the home and gasoline poured throughout the interior. They found Davis, then 71, severely injured — with about 20 stab wounds and two gunshot wounds — in the master bathroom shower, according to the state’s sentencing argument.

Two others, Miccah J. McDowell, 24, and Sion Wilson, 22, were also charged in the attack.

Davis is McDowell’s step-grandfather.

Judge John Fairgrieve sentenced McDowell in July to 21 years in prison for second-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree arson. Wilson was sentenced in September to 13 years for first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, first-degree arson, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission and theft of a firearm.

Before ordering Brewer’s 275-month sentence, Fairgrieve spoke of the suffering endured by Davis and his wife, who arrived home to find their house on fire and her husband injured. The judge said the impacts of that day will likely follow both of them for the rest of their lives.

Brewer apologized Thursday to the Davis family and told the judge that he takes responsibility for what happened. His attorney, Shon Bogar, said Brewer was told they were going to rob a drug dealer and that Brewer never planned to hurt anyone.

“I was a coward for not saying no,” Brewer told the judge. “I was a coward for not stopping it.”

During Wilson’s sentencing hearing, his attorney also told Fairgrieve that McDowell had told Wilson they’d be robbing a criminal.

Bogar requested a low-end sentence for Brewer, citing, in part, Brewer’s troubled childhood. Brewer’s mother spoke at the hearing about his tumultuous time in and out of foster care and group homes, where he met McDowell. Bogar said Brewer considered McDowell a brother.

“The court system has raised him,” she told the judge Thursday.

The state’s sentencing argument lists 21 of Brewer’s prior convictions, including residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, arson and theft. His mother said he was first arrested when he was 9 years old.

Bogar also noted that of the three, Brewer has taken the most responsibility and gave almost a full confession to police once he was arrested. He requested that Brewer not receive a longer sentence than McDowell’s 252 months.

“But for Miccah (McDowell), Hayden (Brewer) would never have been there,” Bogar said.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Toby Krauel called it miraculous that Davis survived. He told the judge Davis can no longer do many of the things he enjoyed, such as hunting, fishing and working around his property.

Fairgrieve had previously said the facts of the case show Wilson was less culpable than his co-defendants. He said it appears McDowell was the instigator and that Brewer is the one who stabbed Davis in his shower.

Wilson admitted to pistol whipping Davis in the face and knocking off his glasses when they entered his house.