A jury Thursday found a Mukilteo businessman guilty of attempted first-degree murder after luring an associate to a secluded area on May 6 and hitting him on the head with a heavy metal tool.
The Snohomish County Superior Court verdict makes it certain that Gary Ronald Bowers, 63, will serve a long prison term when he is sentenced March 16 by Judge Ellen Fair.
Under state law, Bowers will spend between 17 and 22 years behind bars, lawyers said.
The jury deliberated nearly eight hours before arriving at a decision.
Bowers’ victim, Gary Werner, 49, of Granite Falls said he’s "extremely relieved that justice prevailed."
He had been Bowers’ friend and business associate for 17 years before Bowers asked to meet him at property they owned near Granite Falls. Bowers used a heavy breaker bar to strike him on the head.
Werner said he feels safer now that he knows Bowers will be off the streets for a long time.
"I can sleep at night. I feel like I don’t have to watch my back. I feel like I got my life back," he said after the verdict was announced.
Apart from the attempted murder charge, Bowers is still being investigated for an unsolved homicide in October 1996. Bowers’ roommate at the time, Kenneth P. Westphal, 57, was found beaten to death in his Lynnwood-area home.
Veteran Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office detective Joe Ward said Bowers has been under investigation in connection with Westphal’s death, and officers are still seeking information on the case.
"At this point, we really haven’t been able to eliminate him," Ward said of Bowers.
During this week’s trial, Seattle attorney Lennard Nahajski acknowledged that Bowers unleashed an unprovoked attack on Werner, but argued that it was first-degree assault — a crime that could have netted Bowers about 10 years in prison.
Deputy prosecutor Helene Blume had a strong case, including Bowers’ own words on a secretly recorded discussion between the defendant and Werner. Blume got a court order to record the conversation, and the jury listened to the tape during the trial and again during deliberations.
In it, Bowers described an elaborate plan to kill Werner, dump his body in a mountainous area and drive the victim’s truck to a cabin in the Monte Cristo area east of Granite Falls.
His plan was to then hitchhike back to his own truck and drive to Eastern Washington to form an alibi.
Apparently, he assumed that any search for Werner would concentrate in the vicinity of the cabin.
Nahajski argued that Bowers was under heavy financial stress at the time, and the defendant testified that "I just lost it." The defense lawyer argued that Bowers described the elaborate plan to Werner and others because that’s what they wanted to hear. He said Bowers was seeking forgiveness.
While custodial officers were escorting Bowers out of the courtroom Thursday, he passed Werner and simply said, "Sorry, Gary."
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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