Jurors compared Jeremy Pulver’s testimony with police interviews, family communications and physical evidence before convicting him of murdering his father.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Jeremy Ross Pulver told a Utah jury he feared for his life when the confrontation with his father turned violent. Prosecutors asked jurors to compare that testimony with a very different collection of statements: claims that his father wanted to die, a letter saying Pulver believed he was helping him and earlier interviews that prosecutors said did not support his later account of seeing a gun.
The differences became a central issue in the trial over the April 26, 2024, death of 72-year-old John Pulver. Jeremy Pulver, 48, did not persuade jurors that he acted in self-defense or that imperfect self-defense reduced his criminal responsibility. Third District Court jurors convicted him of murder and every other charge they considered after approximately four hours of deliberations over two days. The verdict came more than two years after police found John Pulver dead in his West Valley City home and arrested his son.
At trial, Jeremy Pulver described fear, confusion and regret. He testified that he believed his father had a firearm during their confrontation and said he acted because he thought someone was going to use it. His attorney, Melinda Dee, argued that several circumstances shaped that perception: the room was dark, Jeremy knew his father possessed guns and, according to the defense, there was a history of abuse. Pulver told jurors he felt devastated by his father’s death and ended his direct testimony by saying, “I love my dad very much.”
The prosecution responded by taking jurors back to Pulver’s earliest accounts. Shortly after his arrest, investigators said, Pulver described his father as wanting to die because of his elderly condition. Court records from the original case said Pulver told investigators that John continued asking him to end his life and that Jeremy eventually decided to do what he believed his father wanted. Prosecutors said he admitted trying to suffocate and strangle John before using a hatchet when the older man resisted. Those statements placed Jeremy as the person who initiated the fatal encounter rather than someone unexpectedly forced to defend himself, the state argued.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney John Ham also focused on the gun claim. At trial, Pulver said he had seen or encountered a gun during the struggle. Ham told jurors that Pulver’s earlier interviews either did not mention a gun or described only the possibility that one could have been present. Police officer Adam Rose testified that investigators found no firearms, knives or dangerous weapons in the room where John was found. The state argued that the absence of a gun at the scene and the differences between Pulver’s earlier statements and trial testimony undermined the self-defense account.
The defense urged jurors not to treat Pulver’s initial interviews as a clear or complete description of events. Dee emphasized that her client was under the influence of methamphetamine and criticized investigators for not conducting a later interview when he was sober. She also pointed to toxicology evidence involving John Pulver and argued that the father’s condition and behavior mattered to the defense theory. Prosecutors did not dispute Jeremy Pulver’s drug use. Instead, Ham argued that intoxication helped explain what he characterized as Pulver’s unreasonable belief that his actions were defensive.
The jury also heard about statements that did not fit neatly into either the assisted-death account or the later self-defense account. Prosecutors cited letters Jeremy Pulver sent to his brother in which he wrote that his father had been suffering and that he believed he was helping. Ham also referred to a jail call in which Pulver said he awoke and found his father dead and did not know whether he had anything to do with the death. The state’s argument was that jurors should separate claims contradicted by evidence from details in Pulver’s statements that investigators were able to corroborate.
Physical evidence gave jurors another way to test the accounts. Rose testified that investigators found a Walmart grocery bag in John Pulver’s bedroom and an electrical cord that he believed could have been involved in attempts to suffocate or strangle him. Officers also found a portable tool bag and a metal bottle that related to details Jeremy had provided. The hatchet prosecutors identified as the weapon used in the fatal assault was recovered from Jeremy Pulver’s vehicle after his arrest. Jurors also saw body-camera footage and video from a neighbor’s security system showing Jeremy moving to and from the home.
The investigation began after a caretaker returned to the West Valley City residence on the morning of April 26. Charging documents said she had left the home because she was afraid of Jeremy Pulver and slept elsewhere. When she came back, she told investigators, Jeremy was in a vehicle outside and made statements indicating that he had killed his father. She later entered the residence and found John Pulver dead on his bed. Authorities were called, and Jeremy was located and taken into custody later that day.
The caretaker had previously described the relationship between father and son as strained and volatile, according to the charging documents. She told investigators that they argued frequently and that Jeremy’s behavior changed when he used drugs. Investigators also learned that father and son had been together during the hours before the killing. Charging documents said a person at a bar reported hearing Jeremy say he planned to kill his father because his father had asked him to do so. That account became another piece of the prosecution’s argument that the fatal encounter did not begin as an act of self-defense.
Jeremy Pulver’s claim that his father wanted to die was also challenged from within the family. One of John Pulver’s other sons told detectives that he strongly doubted his father had any interest in dying and said John had never been suicidal, according to the charging documents. The statement did not itself establish what John had said privately to Jeremy, but it gave investigators a family member’s account that conflicted with Jeremy’s explanation. Prosecutors ultimately argued that the totality of the evidence showed Jeremy was the aggressor.
The jury’s task was broader than deciding which version sounded more credible. Jurors had to determine whether the state had proved the charged offenses and whether Jeremy Pulver’s use of force could be justified under the defense theories presented at trial. Dee argued that the state had failed to disprove self-defense. She also asked jurors to consider imperfect self-defense if they believed Jeremy genuinely perceived a threat even if his response was not legally justified. The jury declined to apply that theory and returned guilty verdicts.
The murder count was one of several charges. Pulver was also convicted of obstruction of justice, three counts of possession of a weapon by a restricted person, controlled-substance offenses and possession of drug paraphernalia. He had separately been convicted in May of aggravated assault in a case involving allegations that he threatened a puppy seller the day before his father died. The separate case was not the basis of the murder verdict.
John Pulver’s obituary described a 72-year life that included three decades with the U.S. Postal Service and eight years as a union president. A University of Utah sociology graduate, he enjoyed hunting and fishing when he was young and later shared interests in camping and gardening with his family. He also enjoyed old movies and cars. He was survived by five children, eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and his siblings.
For now, Jeremy Pulver is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 2 following his murder conviction. The court’s eventual sentence will mark the next major step in a case in which the defendant’s own words — spoken to investigators, family members and finally a jury — became some of the most closely examined evidence against him.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.