Nathan Blose is escorted into a courtroom at the Montgomery County courthouse during his trial on strangulation and simple assault charges. Read more Vinny Vella / Staff

by Vinny Vella Published Aug. 5, 2025, 2:26 p.m. ET

Jason Joyce had only been in state prison for 36 hours when he had to fight for his life, he said Tuesday at the start of the trial for the man accused of strangling him .

Joyce, 53, said he begged his cellmate at the State Corrections Institute at Phoenix to release him from the chokehold that was cutting off his oxygen.

“Please don’t do this,” Joyce said he told Nathan Blose in October. “I don’t want to die.”

Blose, 41, did release Joyce, who survived with burst blood vessels in his eyes and injuries to his neck. And now the Northeast Pennsylvania nati

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