2-year-old watched as dad strangled mom, stomped on her face, CA officials say
A 2-year-old watched as the child’s father choked the mother until she fell unconscious, then stomped on her face, California prosecutors say.
Nathan James Sumpter, 28, of Oroville, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison in connection with the “vicious beating and strangling,” the Butte County District Attorney’s Office said in a Sept. 11 news release.
Attorney information for Sumpter was not immediately available.
Sumpter’s sentencing comes after he “pleaded no contest to felony charges of assault likely to cause great bodily injury and dissuading a witness, as well as a misdemeanor for violating a previous restraining order,” according to prosecutors.
Despite the woman’s restraining order against Sumpter, he went to her home the evening of July 8, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement responded to the home, but Sumpter hid, threatening the woman and her family if she told authorities he was there, prosecutors said.
After law enforcement left, the district attorney’s office said Sumpter attacked the woman, punching her in the face and strangling her.
“Sumpter’s brutality continued the next morning when he strangled her to the point of unconsciousness and stomped on her face in front of their 2-year-old child,” prosecutors said.
Sumpter panicked when the woman was unresponsive and called the woman’s aunt, who came to the home, prosecutors said.
Again, law enforcement was called, officials said, and the woman was taken to a hospital, where she was treated for a fractured eye socket.
Sumpter was arrested after prosecutors say he fled the home.
Oroville is about a 70-mile drive north from Sacramento.
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 3:25 PM with the headline "2-year-old watched as dad strangled mom, stomped on her face, CA officials say."
