LV man gets life term in sex assualt

Erica Johnson

Tuesday, July 31, 2001 | 9:41 a.m.

A Las Vegas man convicted of sexually assaulting a mentally challenged woman and later hiring a hit man to kill her was sentenced to life in prison Monday.

John Bowyer had been charged with three counts of sexual assault, one count of solicitation to commit murder and one count of kidnapping in connection with a December incident involving a 20-year-old woman who has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old.

The jury acquitted Bowyer on two of the sexual assault charges and the kidnapping charge.

Bowyer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, but he continued to maintain his innocence on the sexual assault charges.

Bowyer will serve the life sentence for the sexual assault charge and 26 to 120 months for solicitation to commit murder. He will serve the sentences consecutively.

On Monday the woman, whom Bowyer knew, read a letter to District Court Judge Sally Loehrer. She asked the judge to give Bowyer the maximum sentence.

"I'm worried about John coming back and hurting me again," the victim said. "I felt safe before but now not as much. How could he do this to me?"