Soap Lake woman sentenced for assaulting boyfriend

SOAP LAKE — A Soap Lake woman was sentenced for pushing her boyfriend into a wall and hitting him several times with her fists and with a gun.

Nichol Dorris, 34, of Soap Lake, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault (domestic violence). Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Ed Owens and defense attorney Rafael Gonzales and sentenced Dorris to four days in jail. Dorris was initially charged with second-degree assault, but the charge was amended in a plea agreement between Owens and Gonzales.

On Oct. 12 MACC Dispatch received a report of a domestic disturbance in the 20400 block of Road B.5 Northeast in Soap Lake. A deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and a Soap Lake Police Department officer arrived and reportedly spotted a man fleeing the area on a bicycle. Dorris was at the location holding a .45 caliber pistol, which she dropped when she was approached by police, according to police records.

The pistol was later confirmed to have been stolen during a previous theft in Ephrata. The man who was seen fleeing the area was later found and said he was assaulted by his girlfriend, Dorris, inside their Road B.5 trailer.

“(The man) told me Nichol became angry at him, and as he tried to leave their trailer, she shoved him into the wall of the trailer, causing a window that was already broken to shatter further,” wrote a deputy. “Nichol hit him several times with her hands and threw pieces of glass from the broken window at him.”

The man claimed Dorris grabbed a black pistol and hit him in the head with it several times. The man’s story was reportedly corroborated by several red marks on his forehead and on the top of his head. The victim was able to escape the trailer and run outside, but he said he wasn’t able to contact 911 because Dorris took his cell phone and prevented him from calling.

Dorris denied hitting her boyfriend and stated he had not hit her either. She claimed she was holding the gun when officers first arrived because she ”wanted to get rid of it.”

“Nichol said she received the firearm from a friend in Soap Lake named ‘Jennifer Loundsbury’ for free, not having to pay for the firearm and believing she could possess it because she ‘didn’t have any felonies.’ Nichol told be she did think it was strange that Jennifer just gave her the firearm, but (she) didn’t think it was stolen,” wrote a deputy.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.