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Court documents: Utah man hits brother-in-law with truck, assaults him with metal post


A man from Beaver County, Utah, was charged for hitting his brother-in-law with a pickup truck and then assaulting him after an argument went awry. (Photo Courtesy of Beaver County Sheriff's Office)
A man from Beaver County, Utah, was charged for hitting his brother-in-law with a pickup truck and then assaulting him after an argument went awry. (Photo Courtesy of Beaver County Sheriff's Office)
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BEAVER COUNTY, Utah (KUTV) -- A man from Beaver County, Utah, was charged for hitting his brother-in-law with a pickup truck and then assaulting him after an argument went awry.

Jacobson Pelt, 30, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault on Monday.

On Thursday at approximately 8:10 p.m., Beaver County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Beaver Valley Hospital in Beaver to assist with a disorderly patient. When they arrived on the scene, they went into the ER and saw the hospital staff attending to a patient that was "covered in blood" and appeared to be in distress, according to the probable cause statement.

The patient was reported to be bleeding from a large wound on top of his head and had a severe laceration on his left arm. As the deputies began speaking with the injured and upset man, he told them that he was assaulted by his brother-in-law: Pelt.

According to the probable cause statement, the man told deputies that he and Pelt were gathering wood in his yard and consuming alcohol. At some point in time, Pelt got angry with the man and got into a white Ford Ranger, put the vehicle in reverse and struck him with the rear of the pickup truck. The man told deputies he was hit in the hip area and the impact knocked him onto the ground.

The man continued and stated while he was on the ground, Pelt exited the vehicle and began assaulting with some sort of blunt object - either a bar or pole. The man was struck across the crown of his head and then struck several more times while he was on the ground. Pelt stopped assaulting him when the man's wife came outside after hearing the man's cries for help, according to the probable cause statement. When Pelt saw her, he stopped attacking the man and hopped into a 1980s model Ford Ranger, and quickly drove off from the scene.

According to the probable cause statement, the man told deputies that he was in "fear for his life" and mentioned he had been in altercations before; but, he never felt like he would be killed. The man continued and stated he was unable to fight back due to being knocked down by the vehicle and before he could regain strength, Pelt began to assault him. He added that he took a defensive position while lying on the ground by raising his arms to shield the blows.

After calming the man down, deputies took photos of his injuries and a Utah Highway Trooper joined the deputies to travel to the scene of the incident in Greenville to locate Pelt.

When they arrived, they met with the brother-in-law's wife.

The wife told the authorities that she was inside the home when the altercation occurred and came out when she heard her husband cry for help. When she came outside, she saw blood on the ground and her brother - Pelt - walking to the Ford Ranger and leaving the scene. She also mentioned that the objected Pelt used was possibly a metal T-post and that she believed she saw him with the object when he was walking to the vehicle, according to the probable cause statement.

Upon viewing the photos of the man's injuries, authorities noticed that a T-post would be consistent with what could've been used. On one of the photos of the man's back, the wound pattern appeared to look like the bumped side of a T-post and that the injuries on his legs also had the same patterns. The authorities believed that the large gash on Miller's arm - a triangular wound - could have possibly come from the end of the T-post.

The UHP trooper and Beaver County Sheriff's deputies then searched around the vicinity and found several objects that could've been used as a weapon, but none of the items inspected had blood on them. Because of this, they presumed that Pelt could've taken the object with him into the vehicle. Then, on the northside of the residence, they found a "significant amount" of blood on the ground and located a pair of broken glasses that belonged to the man, according to the probable cause statement.

Pelt was not found on the property and had not been heard from since the assault, and was last seen leaving in the Ford Ranger, which was believed to have Arizona plates. According to the probable cause statement, it was believed that Pelt went to Richfield because his mother lives in the area.

The UHP trooper and deputies checked several places around the area to try to locate Pelt, while Beaver County Sheriff's Office relayed information to neighboring agencies and a statewide alert.

On Friday morning, UHP troopers in the Richfield area located a white Ford F-150 abandoned on Interstate 70 near mile marker 26 with a Utah license plate that was registered to Pelt's mother. The vehicle was then towed away and impounded.

The Beaver County Sheriff's deputies then traveled to the tow yard to inspect the vehicle. Upon the time of discovery, the vehicle was locked and no entry was made into the cab; however, they noticed some dried blood on the driver's side of the truck bed and fingerprints on the door frame. Arrangements were made with the tow yard and the Utah DMV to have the vehicle moved to Beaver County Sheriff's impound lot for further investigation.

While deputies were inspecting the vehicle, UHP troopers made contact with Pelt at a trailer park in Richfield. One of the troopers had a previous encounter with him and was able to locate the residence he could be located in, according to the probable cause statement. When they knocked on the door, Pelt answered and then taken into custody at the time.

The UHP troopers brought Pelt to the deputies' location at the towing yard and then placed him under arrest. He was advised of his Miranda rights and then transported to Beaver County Sheriff's Office for an interview.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on Friday, deputies conducted a formal interview with Pelt, where he stated he was "agitated" with the man because of the way his brother-in-law "belittles and picks on him," according to the probable cause statement.

Pelt told deputies that on the night before, he and his brother-in-law got into an argument about driving and when they arrived back at the residence in Greenville, they continued to argue. He continued and stated that the man attempted to hit him at the time but missed, and then got out of the passenger's side of the pickup truck. Pelt stated then at that time, he put the vehicle in reverse and backed up, hitting the man with the open passenger's side door and knocked him to the ground, according to the probable cause statement.

Pelt then stated he got out of the vehicle, grabbed a metal T-post off the ground and then began striking him with it. He stated he hit his brother-in-law four or five times and aimed for the center mass with each blow. Pelt then stated that after he attacked the man with the post, he threw it away and into the yard near where the truck was parked and left. He added that he took the backroads up to the Cove Fort area and then got onto I-70 to head towards Richfield, where the vehicle ran out oil from damage caused after hitting a rock on the backroads.

The deputies then asked Pelt if there was anything else they needed to know and he told them he was assaulted by his brother-in-law back in 2014, where he was knocked unconscious by a blow from his brother-in-law and was taken to the hospital, according to the probable cause statement. He added there were other altercations as well.

Deputies then told Pelt he was going to be charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault, where he did not make any arguments with the charges.

After the interview, deputies went back to the residence to look for the T-post. They were then able to locate it in an area near a chicken coop - east of the residence. They also found what appeared to be dried blood on the post itself, and it was then taken in and booked into evidence.

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