Kittitas man accused of strangling woman in West Valley Walmart parking lot sentenced to jail | Crime And Courts | yakimaherald.com

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Jul 01, 2025

Kittitas man accused of strangling woman in West Valley Walmart parking lot sentenced to jail | Crime And Courts | yakimaherald.com

News Article Crime and Courts Reporter Dwayne David Stafford reacts when Yakima County Superior Court Judge Jared Boswell sets his bail at $100,000 during a preliminary appearance hearing Monday,

News Article

Crime and Courts Reporter

Dwayne David Stafford reacts when Yakima County Superior Court Judge Jared Boswell sets his bail at $100,000 during a preliminary appearance hearing Monday, March 31, 2025. He is accused of trying to abduct his girlfriend and strangling her in the West Valley Walmart parking lot.

A Kittitas man was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail for assaulting and threatening to kill a woman in the West Valley Walmart parking lot.

Dwayne David Stafford, 56, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and felony harassment, both domestic violence offenses. In return, prosecutors dropped an attempted first-degree kidnapping charge and recommended a six-month jail sentence, which was six months less than the 12-months-plus-one-day minimum under state sentencing guidelines based on his criminal history and nature of the crime.

While the sentencing document indicated Stafford has no prior felony convictions, a 2002 conviction for drug possession with intent to deliver charge was vacated in 2021.

Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Tyler Hauter described the agreement as a “classic compromise” in which Stafford is taking responsibility for his actions.

“We believe this is an isolated incident, and we won’t see him before the court again,” Hauter said.

Yakima police received multiple calls about an assault in progress at Walmart, 6600 W. Nob Hill Blvd., around 11:30 p.m. March 30. When they arrived, the officers found several Walmart employees separating a woman from Stafford. Officers placed Stafford into custody and found two knives on him, and a rifle and a crossbow were in his Mercury Mountaineer, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The 39-year-old woman said she had been dragged from the car she was in by Stafford, who tried to force her into his SUV. When she refused, he hit her in the head with the rifle and said he was going to kill her, the affidavit said.

While she was on the ground, Stafford began choking her with both hands until bystanders pulled him off. She said she almost lost consciousness, the affidavit said, and she had trouble speaking as a result of the strangulation.

Aaron Dalan, Stafford’s attorney, clarified that the woman was not Stafford’s girlfriend, as initially described, but a housemate, and that Stafford was looking for her because she had taken his car and one of his firearms.

“He knows he shouldn’t have gone as far as he did,” Dalan said.

Stafford, who said his statement of guilt was accurate “for the most part,” told Yakima County Superior Court Judge Shane Silverthorn that he was acting in self-defense.

“If (the woman) had not reached for the firearm she stole from me, and I feared for my life, so I reacted,” Stafford said. “It proceeded to this point. I asked the officers to look for (the gun), but they did not.”

“I am limited to the facts that you wrote in your guilty plea. Everything else is argument,” Silverthorn said.

He also ordered Stafford to undergo a domestic violence evaluation and follow whatever treatment regimen is recommended, as well as have no contact with the woman for the next 10 years.

Dalan said with credit for the time Stafford has served since his arrest and credit for good behavior, he could be released in a month.

Reach Donald W. Meyers at [email protected].

Crime and Courts Reporter

Journalists at the Yakima Herald-Republic bring you timely, in-depth and credible local news. Your generous donation supports their work.

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