Utah father John Pulver was killed by his son, Jeremy Pulver, according to authorities (Legacy.com/Memorial Murray Mortuary).
A Utah man has been convicted of murder after prosecutors said he first attempted to smother his father with a Walmart grocery bag, then fatally attacked him with a hatchet.
Jeremy Pulver, 48, was found guilty Wednesday by a Salt Lake City jury following roughly four hours of deliberation. During the trial, he told the court he loved his father “very much” and felt “horrible” about the deadly 2024 encounter, while maintaining that he killed 72-year-old John Pulver in self-defense, local NBC affiliate KSL reported.
“I feel devastated,” Pulver testified, according to the outlet. “I feel a tremendous amount of, of pain and uh, regret that I even got there. I also felt like, wow, I can’t believe this happened.”
He also told jurors, “I love my dad very much.”
Prosecutors said John Pulver suffered fatal blunt force injuries after being struck multiple times with a hatchet inside his West Valley City residence.
Jeremy Pulver told investigators that his father had asked him to “take him out” and claimed John was hitting him before the hatchet attack began. Prosecutors said Jeremy also acknowledged strangling his father, while defense attorneys argued he acted in an effort to stop what they described as a meth-fueled rage by John Pulver.
In a probable cause affidavit obtained by local ABC affiliate KTVX, Jeremy Pulver allegedly said his father wanted to die “because of his elderly condition” and had asked his son to “take him out,” which investigators said referred to killing him.
“Jeremy said he worked up the confidence to kill John, and early this morning he went to John’s room,” according to the affidavit. “When he entered John’s room, he found John lying in bed. Jeremy said he was ready to kill John.”
Jeremy Pulver claimed his father “fought back harder than [Jeremy] ever would’ve expected” and he “felt a gun” that John Pulver was holding, which made him scared for his own life.
“He felt like someone was going to use it,” according to his defense attorney Melinda Dee.
“So he reacted,” Dee said during Jeremy Pulver’s trial.
Prosecutors said Jeremy Pulver was also “under the influence of meth when this was all taking place, which explains his belief that he was acting reasonably in attempting to suffocate and then strangle and then take a hatchet to his father,” according to KSL.
Jeremy Pulver was “certainly the aggressor,” prosecutors said.
He was found guilty of murder, obstruction of justice, possession of a weapon by a restricted person, drug possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jeremy Pulver is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2.
The post Son tried to suffocate his father using a Walmart grocery bag, when that didn’t work he grabbed a hatchet to finish the job first appeared on Law & Crime.
