Jeremy Pulver was convicted of murder more than two years after his father was found dead inside a West Valley City home.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A Utah jury convicted Jeremy Ross Pulver of murdering his 72-year-old father after hearing competing accounts of a 2024 confrontation in which prosecutors said Pulver first tried to suffocate and strangle the older man before repeatedly striking him with a hatchet. Jurors rejected the defense argument that Pulver acted to protect himself during the encounter.

The verdict ended a trial centered not on whether Pulver caused John Pulver’s death, but on what the younger man intended and whether he reasonably believed he needed to use force. Jeremy Pulver, 48, testified that he feared his father and believed a gun was involved. Prosecutors countered that Pulver was the aggressor and pointed to statements he made after the killing that differed from the account he gave jurors. After roughly four hours of deliberations spread across two days, the Third District Court jury found him guilty on all charges submitted in the case and did not accept an imperfect self-defense theory.

John Pulver died April 26, 2024, at his home in West Valley City. Deputy Salt Lake County attorney John Ham told jurors that the death resulted from blunt force trauma after John was struck repeatedly. Investigators testified about what they found in the bedroom and elsewhere in the house, while jurors also saw police body-camera footage and video from a neighbor’s security system showing Jeremy Pulver coming and going. Prosecutors said the evidence supported portions of statements Pulver gave investigators shortly after his arrest, even as other parts of his explanations shifted over time.

West Valley City police officer Adam Rose testified that investigators found a plastic Walmart grocery bag in the bedroom and an electrical cord that he believed could have been associated with attempts to suffocate or strangle John Pulver. Police did not find a firearm, knife or other dangerous weapon in the room, Rose said. Investigators did find a portable tool bag and a metal bottle connected to details Jeremy Pulver had discussed during interviews. The hatchet prosecutors said was used in the killing was later found in Jeremy Pulver’s vehicle after he was arrested, according to testimony reported by KSL.

Those physical findings became significant because Pulver told jurors that he believed his father had a gun during the confrontation. Defense attorney Melinda Dee argued that her client knew his father owned firearms, that the room was dark and that the relationship between the two men had a history that affected how Jeremy Pulver interpreted what was happening. She told jurors that Pulver felt what he believed was a gun and reacted because he feared someone would use it. The defense maintained that the state had not disproved self-defense and asked jurors to consider imperfect self-defense if they concluded the force was not legally justified.

Prosecutors emphasized that the gun account was not consistent with Jeremy Pulver’s earlier statements. Ham argued that Pulver initially said only that he thought a gun might have been present or did not mention seeing one. He also challenged Pulver’s description of how several objects he said he used during the encounter happened to be available. The prosecution urged jurors to compare Pulver’s testimony with his police interviews, physical evidence, communications with family members and other recorded statements rather than evaluate any one version in isolation.

The accounts Pulver gave after his father’s death were a major part of the state’s case. In statements described in court records after his 2024 arrest, Pulver claimed his father had expressed a desire to die because of his age and physical condition. He told investigators that he ultimately decided to carry out what he believed his father wanted. Charging documents said he described trying more than one method before the confrontation escalated and he used the hatchet. One of John Pulver’s other sons, however, told investigators that he strongly doubted his father wanted to die and said John had never been suicidal, according to the charging documents.

The prosecution also relied on Jeremy Pulver’s other communications to question the self-defense explanation presented at trial. Ham cited letters to Pulver’s brother in which Pulver said he believed his father was suffering and that he thought he was helping him. Prosecutors also pointed to a jail call in which Pulver gave another account of discovering his father dead. Ham argued that some of Pulver’s early statements contained unusual or unreliable assertions but that details corroborated by investigators accurately described his actions. The defense, by contrast, questioned why investigators did not conduct another interview after Pulver was no longer under the influence of drugs.

Methamphetamine use was raised by both sides, but for different reasons. Prosecutors argued that Jeremy Pulver was under the influence when the killing occurred and said that helped explain why he might have believed his conduct was reasonable. Dee told jurors that toxicology evidence showed John Pulver also had methamphetamine in his system and argued that the amount was important to understanding the confrontation. The defense contended that John was behaving aggressively and that Jeremy reacted to a threat. The jury ultimately did not accept that explanation as a legal defense to the killing.

The circumstances immediately before John Pulver’s death also appeared in the criminal case. Charging documents said a caretaker described the father-son relationship as strained and volatile and told investigators she was afraid of Jeremy Pulver. She said she left the house rather than remain around him and returned the next morning. According to the charges, Jeremy Pulver then approached her in his vehicle and told her he had killed his father. She entered the house and found John Pulver on his bed before authorities were called. Jeremy Pulver was located and arrested later that day.

The case unfolded alongside a separate investigation stemming from events the day before John Pulver’s death. Prosecutors accused Jeremy Pulver of threatening a man after a planned puppy purchase did not occur. He was separately convicted of aggravated assault in May 2026 in connection with that incident, according to KSL. That proceeding was distinct from the murder trial, which focused on what occurred inside John Pulver’s home and whether Jeremy Pulver’s actions met the requirements of Utah’s homicide laws and his asserted defenses.

John Stirley Pulver was remembered by his family for a life that extended far beyond the circumstances of his death. His obituary said he graduated from Granite High School, earned a sociology degree from the University of Utah and spent 30 years working for the U.S. Postal Service. He served for eight years as a union president and enjoyed camping, gardening, old movies and cars. The obituary said he was a father of five and was survived by eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and other relatives.

Jeremy Pulver was convicted of first-degree felony murder, second-degree felony obstruction of justice, three third-degree felony counts involving possession of a weapon by a restricted person and misdemeanor drug and drug-paraphernalia offenses. Court scheduling information identifies the murder prosecution as Third District Court case 241905338. Pulver is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2. No later sentencing disposition was found in the material reviewed as of Sept. 29.

Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.