Trial starts in sexual assault case

Angela Soo

Thursday, May 31, 2001 | 10:04 a.m.

A trial began Wednesday for a man charged with sexually assaulting a mentally challenged 21-year-old woman, then allegedly hiring a hit man to kill her.

John Bowyer faces three counts of sexual assault, one count of solicitation to commit murder and one count of kidnapping. Both the kidnapping and sexual assault offenses could result in life sentences.

During opening statements, both the prosecutor and defense attorney agreed that last December Bowyer picked up the woman, who was 20, from the supermarket where she worked.

It was normal for Bowyer to pick up the woman after work, Defense Attorney Robert Draskovich said.

Deputy District Attorney Tammy Peterson told the jury that after Bowyer brought the alleged victim to where he was living, he showed her a pornographic movie, then sexually assaulted her. The woman has a mental capacity of an 11- or 12-year-old, Peterson said.

The alleged victim didn't immediately tell anyone what happened, but told her mother that she had seen "sex movies" with the man, Peterson said.

This alerted her mother, and two days later she took her daughter to University Medical Center for a nine-hour examination, Peterson said. By then, any evidence of sexual assault had washed off, she said.

Bowyer was arrested and sent to Clark County Detention Center the next month after police searched a room he was staying in at the Del Mar Motel. Police found 18 pornographic films and five sex toys, one which matched a description given to authorities by the alleged victim, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors added that while in custody, Bowyer allegedly tried to hire another inmate to kill the woman for an unspecified amount. Police have audio and video recordings of Bowyer making arrangements with the inmate, the jury was told.

Draskovich says Bowyer never sexually assaulted the woman, and that the defendant had caught the woman watching a pornographic film that was left in his VCR.

In order to spare her any embarrassment, Bowyer agreed to not tell her mother what happened, Draskovich said. The charges are simply a way for the alleged victim's mother to get back at the defendant's family, the defense attorney said.

Bowyer's hiring a hit man was understandable due to the pressure he faced in jail, Draskovich said. He was frightened, thinking he was going to be convicted for something he didn't do and die in prison when other inmates found out why he was in jail.

He was told by an inmate that the only way to stay alive is to kill your accuser or be killed by other inmates. Bowyer's desperate measure may be considered as self-defense, Draskovich said.