Guilty plea expected in alleged strangling incident

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The Port Townsend man accused of choking his ex-girlfriend after using a ladder to get into her bedroom is expected to change his plea to guilty later this month. 

It’s a marked turnaround in the case.

Earlier this month, the attorney for Justin Ryan Boden said he would claim self-defense during his trial of charges of second-degree assault and first-degree burglary, according to the man’s attorney. 

Justin Ryan Boden remains in Jefferson County Jail on $75,000 bail. 

Boden, 44, had earlier entered pleadings of not guilty to the charges.

During a court appearance June 3, prosecutors noted that a plea deal had been rejected.

Lillian Powers, Boden’s court-appointed attorney, told Superior Court Judge Keith Harper that the defense intended to go to trial.

That changed last Friday, when Powers said an agreement had been reached with prosectors.

Boden was arrested around 3 a.m. Friday, March 25 after a domestic violence assault was reported at a home on Port Townsend’s west end. 

The victim told police she had dated Boden for about six months before their relationship ended, and authorities learned Boden had been living in a storage shed on the property.

According to court documents, Boden told police he had entered his ex-girlfriend’s home to retrieve a sleep study device he had left there. 

He then said he discovered his former girlfriend had been drinking, and grabbed a bottle of Fireball whiskey and  threw it out the back window of her room.

He also said his ex had pushed and grabbed at him, breaking a jade necklace he was wearing.

His ex-girlfriend told police that Boden had punched her in the face. She said she was on the phone with a friend and dancing in her room when Boden came up a ladder and forced his way into her bedroom through a window.

She also said he threw the whiskey bottle out of the window, punched her face, then “put both hands around her throat and began strangling her,” according to court documents.

The alleged choking stopped when the woman said she was able to get close enough to bite him on the lip.

Boden was allowed to continue living on the property after their break-up, she told police, but he was not allowed to come into her room without her permission.

When asked about injuries on his face, which included a bloody lip, Boden allegedly told police his injuries were caused by a fall down a flight of stairs.

Boden later allegedly admitted to climbing a ladder outside the home, according to court documents, but said he was trying to knock on the window to get the attention of his ex-girlfriend. He also insisted he entered the home through a sliding-glass door.