Boulder man sentenced to six years in prison for assault

Oct. 15—A Boulder man who pleaded guilty to beating and choking a woman last year was sentenced to six years in prison Friday.

John Conrad Richter, 21, pleaded guilty in August to two counts of second-degree assault, second-degree burglary and third-degree assault.

Attorneys agreed Richter would serve six years in prison as part of the plea deal, and on Friday Boulder District Judge Bruce Langer accepted the stipulated sentence.

Following his prison sentence, Richter will serve five years parole.

"All things being balanced, this is an appropriate resolution," Langer said.

Richter, who had been out on bond, was remanded into the custody and will wait at the Boulder County Jail before being transported to the Colorado Department of Corrections.

"I just want to say I'm so sorry," an emotional Richter told Langer. "I cannot tell you how awful I feel and how living with this has been a personal hell."

While Richter's parents spoke at the hearing and said they felt the sentence was too harsh and expressed disappointment the victim in the case pushed for prison time, Boulder Deputy District Attorney M. Breck Roesch said that the "extreme violence and viciousness" of the assault warranted a prison sentence.

Langer agreed the sentence was appropriate. While he credited Richter for the work he has done during the case with treatment, he said that "there is still a price to be paid" for Richter's conduct.

"I appreciate everything you've done since this happened," Langer told Richter. "I believe your remorse is genuine, I believe you've gained a lot of insight... I don't think that anybody, including you, should believe this defines you. But it is a piece of you, and you will carry that with you. You did this and there is no escaping that fact."

According to an arrest affidavit, Richter's father called police on Feb. 16, 2020, and said Richter had assaulted a woman the previous night.

Police went to the woman's apartment in the 900 block of Euclid Avenue and found her with visible injuries to her neck and face, and transported her to the hospital for treatment.

The woman told police she and Richter had gotten into an argument on Feb. 15 about her going out with friends and that he threatened her with a knife.

The next day, the woman said she and Richter went to a party and Richter became drunk and angry.

The woman said when they got home from the party, Richter began punching holes in the walls and knocking things down. She told Richter to leave, and then locked the door when he did.

But the woman told police Richter came back and broke his way into the apartment before punching her in the face and then choking her to the point of unconsciousness.

When the woman woke up, she told police she tried to run from the apartment. According to the affidavit, police were able to obtain video footage that shows the woman running from the apartment in only a T-shirt and her underwear before Richter follows her and hits her with a broom to force her back inside.

The woman said Richter then cut her on her thighs with a knife before cutting himself.

Richter had taken the woman's phone during the fight, and when she got it back she called Richter's father about the incident.

Police at the scene noted several holes in the walls, broken glass in trash cans and damage to the front door and door frame.