Son tried to suffocate his father using a Walmart grocery bag, when that didn't work he grabbed a hatchet to finish the job

A Utah man was found guilty of murder this week after trying to suffocate his father with a Walmart grocery bag before using a hatchet to finish the job.

Jeremy Pulver, 48, was convicted by Salt Lake City jurors on Wednesday after four hours of deliberations. He proclaimed during his trial that he loved his father “very much” and felt “horrible” about what happened in 2024 while claiming he killed John Pulver, 72, in self-defense, according to local NBC affiliate KSL.

“I feel devastated,” Pulver reportedly testified. “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.”

Pulver added, “I love my dad very much.”

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According to prosecutors, John Pulver died from blunt force trauma after being hit repeatedly with a hatchet inside his West Valley City home.

Jeremy Pulver told police that “his dad had asked him to take him out” and was hitting Jeremy before he began using the hatchet on him. Prosecutors said Jeremy Pulver admitted to strangling his father, with his defense lawyers claiming he did it to stop a meth-induced rage John Pulver was experiencing.

Jeremy Pulver had said his father wanted to die “because of his elderly condition,” according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by local ABC affiliate KTVX. He claimed John Pulver asked his son to “take him out” in reference to murdering 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.