Purvis
A Columbus man accused of assaulting and threatening the life of his father last fall has accepted a plea agreement in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
Aaron Ray Purvis, 30, of 7268 S. Lincoln Village, was originally charged with criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon as a Level 3 felony; intimidation while drawing a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony; strangulation as a Level 6 felony and two misdemeanors: domestic violence and resisting law enforcement.
In an unrelated incident, Purvis was sentenced last April to one year for a conviction of strangulation, online court records show.
A plea agreement recently introduced in court would give Purvis an eight-year-sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to intimidation as a Level 5 felony and resisting arrest as a Class A misdemeanor. All remaining charges, except the earlier case of strangulation, would be dropped.
While the agreement has been signed by both the prosecutor and defense, Judge James Worton can either accept or reject the terms, according to state law. Under those terms, Purvis will serve four years in prison and spend the remaining four years on probation.
On Oct. 6, the defendant appeared to be intoxicated while arguing with his father, Donald Purvis, according to a narrative submitted by Columbus Police Officer Aaron Graham. At one point, the defendant pushed his father onto a couch, grabbed a kitchen knife, pointed it toward his father’s neck and threatened to cut his throat if he called police, the victim told police. Donald Purvis later told investigators that his son also tried to suffocate him with a blanket.
After being held for two hours, the victim was able to escape while his son was the bathroom, the police narrative states. Donald Purvis said he first grabbed a cell phone hidden in the couch before he ran to a friend’s house and called 911, Graham wrote.
When officers arrived, Aaron Purvis was still in the apartment. The narrative states he threw the knife at a window while police were looking through it. Although blood was later discovered on the knife, it was determined to belong to the suspect, not his father.
After police entered the apartment and repeatedly ordered Aaron Purvis to come outside with them, he refused to comply with their commands, Graham wrote. That prompted officers to bring him to the ground, place him in handcuffs and take him to a squad car, the narrative states.
Purvis unsuccessfully attempted to head butt Graham while being taken into custody and had to be forced into the patrol car, the officer wrote.
Later in the emergency room, the defendant made multiple threats to Graham that he would have him fired, the narrative states.
