By Brandi Makuski

A Wisconsin Rapids man is headed for prison after being convicted of repeat domestic abuse against the same woman.

Dayton Boris, 27, was sentenced in Portage Co. Circuit Court on Friday to two years in prison, followed by three years extended supervision for strangling his girlfriend in front of their minor children. Boris pleaded no contest to a charge of strangulation, and one count of repeat domestic battery, in March.

Two additional counts — obstruction and bail-jumping — were dismissed as part of a plea deal but read in for sentencing.

Boris was arrested last Aug. after his girlfriend called police to report she’d been assaulted at her West St. North home. According to the criminal complaint, the couple argued because the house was messy, but the argument escalated when Boris placed the woman in headlock and squeezed her neck.

He then rolled her to the ground and placed his weight on her body as the couple’s two children watched. The woman and her children later fled to a friend’s home on Water Street.

The woman told police she was unable to breath for several seconds and thought she was going to die, according to the complaint.

When officers arrived at the West St. home, Boris refused to answer, and prevented officers to entering the home by barricading the door with a couch and a table. He later talked to officers by phone, claiming to be driving in his car and telling officers they would “never catch him”, according to the complaint.

When Boris was taken into custody, he admitted being a verbal argument with the woman but denied any physical altercation.

Judge Thomas Flugaur called the incident “extremely serious”, adding his concern over Boris’ third domestic offense against the same victim.

“Strangulation, especially in a domestic situation, [is] extremely serious and the supervision needs of the defendant clearly required prison,” said District Attorney Louis Molepske. “Especially since he had previously abused the same victim before and he committed the offense in front of his and the victim’s children.”