VICTORVILLE — A 26-year-old man accused of killing a legally-blind Apple Valley man with a single punch has pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and will serve about 45 more days in jail, according to court records and his defense attorney.
Aaron Bowman had been charged with murder until entering into a plea bargain late last week, court records show. While he was ordered to serve four years in jail, his sentence was ultimately reduced to two years after credits for conduct and time served, Attorney Ron Powell said Monday.
Bowman will have spent “two years on the dot” in custody in about 45 days, said Powell, who added that it was a “tough” case.
“I have a client who didn’t do much more than defend himself,” Powell said, adding that the “mutual confrontation” ended with a “terrible result.”
San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Anthony Enciso, the case’s prosecutor, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.
Jeffrey Thomas King, 24, was pronounced brain dead on May 27, 2013 at Loma Linda University Medical Center, four days after he was knocked unconscious by Bowman during a child exchange between King and Amber Stewart, the mother of King’s 8-year-old child, authorities said.
Stewart and Bowman were dating at the time of the incident.
According to authorities, deputies responded to an assault call at 5:55 p.m. in the 14200 block of Choco Road after King’s girlfriend, Jessica Stuber, called 911 to report that her boyfriend had been in a fight and was unresponsive.
Bowman had punched King once in the face, then Bowman and Stewart fled the scene, sheriff’s officials said.
King was initially taken to St. Joseph Health, St. Mary in Apple Valley before he was flown to Loma Linda, where he died — an apparent direct result of the assault, authorities said.
Powell said Monday that most of the evidence produced at the scene indicated that King threw a punch as well, if not the first punch, in a fight that had brewed from “bad blood.”
“There have been problems at these pick-ups before,” he said, “and it’s clear that the victim had challenged my client.”
He also noted there were risks in taking the case to trial for both the defense and prosecution.
Yet a close friend of the King family had previously disputed that “mutual confrontation” narrative to the Daily Press.
“Aaron launched himself at Jeff and slugged him ... Jeff went down,” said Marie Hamrick-Freeman, of Apple Valley. “Jeff suffered from Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and he couldn’t see Aaron approach him ... he was legally blind and only able to see shadows.”
King’s mother, Judy King, provided a victim’s statement in court before sentencing Thursday, records show.
Judy King told the Daily Press in October 2013 that she would “never change my mind” about her opposition to a plea deal.
“I will never see my son again,” she said. “No, I want Bowman prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want him to go to trial.”